By Your Side
by ABlueKindOfMusic
Summary: When Kurt has to decide if he can leave McKinley for Dalton, Blaine may have a solution that changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

First Glee fic! I started planning and writing this about a month ago but after discovering '**McKlainely High'** by 'Beautifulwhatsyourhurry' I came to the conclusion that anything I could write would never be that good, But now I'm going to give it a shot.

By-the-by you should really read her story, it's _**amazing**_.

Disclaimer: I'm going to get this settled right now. I do not own Glee, if I did I would be writing 45 minutes of Klaine make out sessions and there would be an episode a day. Is that happening? No. therefore I do not own. All credit to Ryan Murphy (who, after S02E16, is one of my favourite people ever) I'll update you if this changes in the future but otherwise from now on just assume I still don't own it okay?

Well here we go…

Kurt sat in the front seat of his SUV, hands tapping the steering wheel nervously. It was nearly 4; he'd only been waiting 10 minutes and was already freaking out about what he was going to say. He tapped the screen of his iPhone and scanned the open message.

_Blaine I really have to talk to you. Meet me soon? – K_

_Of course Kurt, coffee shop at 4? – B_

_Thanks, I'll see you soon – K_

Kurt had arrived at the coffee place way too quickly after school had let out and understood that, with Dalton being out of town, it would take Blaine pretty much to the last minute to arrive. So he just sat there, nerves building and mind racing with the words he could say.

His dad and Carol had been so kind, offering up their Honeymoon money to get him to Dalton but he wasn't sure if he could do it. Safety was important yes, and he knew that saying no without thinking it through would be something he'd regret, especially if Karofsky was as serious about his threat as he seemed. However, over the past year, the New Directions had become so much more than just his first proper friends, they'd become his family, and Kurt knew better than most how important family was and didn't think he could bring himself to abandon them.

He had taken his phone out even before leaving his dad and step mom, sending the text to the one person he knew he needed to see in this situation, mumbling_ I need to think about this, I'll see you at home_ to the couple before heading to the rest of his lessons. The last couple of hours had gone by without him even realising it. During English he would glance up every now and again to see either his teacher staring down at him waiting for an answer to a question he hadn't even heard, or he'd see Mercedes staring blankly at him after having, more than likely, been trying to get his attention for a while. He'd apologised both times and they both seemed to just accept it and move on, it was pretty obvious to them that his head was not on the planet at the time.

He wasn't sure why Blaine had been the first person in his mind when he knew he needed someone to talk to about this. His new friend had become a sort of Mentor. They had spent so much time just hanging out since they had met and Kurt couldn't deny that he felt safe with Blaine, he knew it had only been a few weeks but he hoped that this boy would be around forever. He really looked up to the other boy and could no longer imagine his life without Blaine. Kurt knew he had a history of getting in too deep and taking things the wrong way but this time he truly felt something special, whenever Blaine was around nothing else mattered. He hoped he wasn't coming on too strong again. This last thought panicked Kurt slightly, _what if I am?_ He thought nervously. _What if Blaine does mind when I text him all the time, and complain about everything to him. I hope he doesn't think that I'm using him or anything._

He hadn't realised how much time had passed with his musings until a tap on his window made him look up.

"Kurt?" Blaine's voice was muffled slightly behind the glass. Kurt smiled and Blaine stepped aside to allow him to open the car door and step out onto the pavement.

"Hi." Blaine smiled.

"Let's go inside." Kurt replied, Blaine swinging his arm slowly towards the building offering for Kurt to go first and they crossed the parking lot together. When they got inside Blaine turned to the taller boy and gestured towards the tables.

"Get a seat Kurt, I'll just go get the coffees," Kurt just nodded, knowing that there really was no point in attempting to argue with his dapper friend. Always the gentleman was Blaine.

Kurt took a seat at the far side of the café, away from the other customers and kept glancing up every few seconds towards the counter where Blaine waited in the line. He waited a few more minutes before Blaine was heading over to him with 2 coffees in his hands which he placed on the table and took a seat opposite Kurt. They sat in silence for a minute, sipping their coffees and occasionally looking up at each other before Blaine finally put his cup down in front of him and sighed.

"You said you needed to talk about something?" He searched Kurt's face with his eyes, forcing the taller boy to also sigh and lower his coffee away from his face.

"Yeah…" he paused, swinging the coffee slightly with his left hand, "Dad and Carol want to transfer me to Dalton to... You know…Karofsky's coming back," He offered up as semblance of an explanation. Blaine met his eyes with slight surprise.

"I didn't realise that was an option for you," he said after a moment.

"Honeymoon money," Kurt blurted out. "Uhh they want to use the money they've saved for their honeymoon." He sighed, and Blaine could feel the guilt seeping out of the boy before him.

"Ah…well what do you want?" Blaine wanted Kurt to tell him how he felt before giving him anything he could take out of context.

"I want to feel safe. I want to walk through the halls without fear of pain and humiliation…" Kurt paused for a second, looking away from Blaine and over to the counter where a group of teenagers were messing around and passing coffees between themselves.

"But…" Blaine prompted. Kurt turned to face him again, biting his lip and sighing.

"But I can't leave my friends. I love them; they're like my family now. Plus I really enjoy being on New Directions, even if the spotlight does predominantly fall on Rachel. It's the first place…" Kurt trailed off again, unsure of whether to admit what had been on his mind.

"The first place you felt like you belonged." Blaine finished for him. Picking up his coffee again he took a sip and held it out in front of his face how Kurt had earlier.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" Kurt smiled.

"You see I'm really an undercover government agent with experimental mind reading powers." Kurt laughed and shook his head slightly with mock shock.

"Ahh of course" Kurt giggled. He smiled a moment longer and then his face turned serious again. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands turning so that one eye was focused on Blaine through the brown locks.

"What do you think I should do Blaine?" Blaine put his coffee back down on the table and focused wholly on the soprano who looked so defeated. _And he has every right to be _Blaine thought idly _being forced away from everything he knows because of goddamn bullies_ Blaine had regretted his decision to run so much that he couldn't let Kurt take this decision lightly.

"Well I guess, in the end, this _has_ to be your decision Kurt. And no matter how much you think my opinion matters, you know yourself better than I do," He said quietly. "But if you want to know what I think then I'll tell you, because I care,"

"You're an individual Kurt. Completely unique. Dalton…while kind and understanding, doesn't truly recognise that. You see that we all wear uniforms and have regulation…pretty much everything? They won't stop you being who you are inside; you _can_ be unique, just not out loud. And as for the Warblers, newbies don't get solos and the enthusiasm you show wouldn't exactly be welcomed with open arms by the council. They're a very straight line trio. It is something you get used to and in time maybe just accept. But…" Blaine paused for a second, seeming to weigh up the options of what he wanted to say, he finally continued keeping eye contact between he and Kurt for every word. "I don't want to see you lose yourself Kurt, because what you are is amazing." Kurt was stunned, he'd never been called amazing, he never considered anything about himself to be special or particularly interesting but here was this boy, this friend he hardly knew telling him this as if it was completely obvious.

If he hadn't been too stunned to reply, Kurt would have interrupted Blaine when he started to speak again.

"I know your life is so _so_ important, and I couldn't stand it if something happened to you but maybe there are other ways to handle this, to let you be safe at McKinley so that you don't have to leave everything you love behind." Blaine had trailed off by the end of his speech and seemed to be deep in thought. They were both silent for a moment before Blaine suddenly stood up.

"I'll be right back." And then he was walking away and leaving the building. Kurt remained in stunned silence, his mind still processing what he'd just heard. _What you are is amazing_. One thought started to creep towards the front of Kurts mind. _Is Blaine really that against Kurt being with him at Dalton? _He couldn't really make sense of it, and in the end they had only known each other for a matter of weeks so he couldn't be too disappointed, but Kurt couldn't help but wonder if that was the hidden message in this. _Of course that's not it. _He battled the shadowing thought.

A hand on his shoulder and a whisper in his ear startled him out of his musings.

"What you thinking?" It was Blaine, back from wherever he'd been and Kurt once again fought back the notion of Blaine wanting to be away from him. He wouldn't have come all this way and said such beautiful things if he didn't really like Kurt.

"Just about all this." Kurt finally said, once Blaine was back in his seat.

Blaine looked contemplative for a second. He looked at Kurt, his head slightly inclined to the left. "Do me a favour," He said in a firm voice.

"Of course." Kurt nodded.

"Give it a week." Blaine started. "A week, and then if you still want to transfer then I won't stop you"

"Why a week?" Kurt questioned, _what could happen in a week?_

"Just do it Kurt, okay. Look, I gotta go. I'll talk to you soon yeah?" The sentence was rushed and Blaine was almost out of the door before Kurt could even respond.

"But…" Kurt stood, arm out towards Blaine but the dapper boy didn't stop.

"Okay?" Blaine finished, he was out of the door immediately after and it was obvious he didn't expect a reply.

Kurt slumped back into his seat taking his coffee in both hands and finishing it off, reaching behind himself to put the empty card cup in the trash. Folding his arms across his chest he sighed in frustration.

_What just happened?_

Kurt hadn't heard anything from Blaine since the meeting in the coffee shop, not even a text, and the young boy was starting to get worried. He was sure that Blaine was disappointed in him. With all the talk of 'courage' that passed between the two of them every day Kurt had still considered running away. He wasn't sure what had happened to Blaine to make him move to Dalton when he did but Kurt was pretty sure it must have been bad, worse than some Neanderthals and empty threats. As strong as he appeared to be on the outside, inside Kurt was ashamed. Ashamed for who he was as well as the coward he had become.

_Dad always says that no one pushes the Hummel's around_ He thought idly, head angling slightly more towards the ground in defeat.

The last few days had been spent in a deep confusion due to the dapper boys parting words, and he had spent the week keeping his Dad off his back about the transfer. Burt wouldn't leave his son alone about it and Kurt had spent the weeknights so far at Mercedes house to avoid the questioning.

_A week and then if you still want to transfer then I won't stop you _

He'd told this to his father the day before and it seemed to settle him for that evening but Kurt hadn't stopped thinking about it since Blaine had left the coffee place. What could his new friend possibly expect to happen in a week that would stop Karofsky coming back, or terrorising him, or just being near him?

He stood by his locker just after lunch, lost in his musings, hands resting on his textbooks and eyes cast up towards the framed picture of said boy. He was constantly supplied with comments about the photo, from anyone who was near his open locker, but Kurt never knew what to say to them. He knew they'd never understand his connection with Blaine and his passion for courage. They had no idea that the photo was the one of the only reasons Kurt got through each day.

He stared at the photo for a few seconds, his eyes sparkling as they absorbed the image to be replayed in his head for the rest of the day. Even if he hadn't heard from his dapper friend in days it didn't stop his heart from warming when he sees that face. And that smile. He was about to close his locker and set off for his afternoon lessons when he heard a familiar voice speak some familiar words and his heart stopped.

"Excuse me can I ask you a question? I'm new here"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N First of all oh my gosh thank you to everyone who alerted and favourite this story! I had so many!

Sorry the chapters are pretty short… as I go on there will be more happening in each one so they should get longer. The next one will definitely be a bit longer. Stick with me

xxx

Kurt stared wide eyed for a minute, looking the other boy up and down. The blazer and tie along with the pressed black trousers had gone, replaced with scruffy jeans and a plain blue jumper over an off-white shirt. His hair, whilst still being neatly tamed, lacked its usual gelled appearance and some of the curls fell more softly on his neck. He looked completely different, but was still Blaine. Kurt just stood stock still, staring at the dapper boy with wide eyes. His hands were shaking and his mind was working a mile a minute.

"Kurt?" Blaine started. "Say something" His smile was unsure and he looked increasingly nervous. The revelation that this was indeed his friend snapped Kurt out of his shocked state, he flung his arms around the other boy and held him tightly.

"Blaine! What are you doing here?" He released Blaine and stepped back, blushing at this overly excited reaction.

"Like I said, I'm new here." Blaine's eyes sparkled with amusement as he watched recognition flash across Kurt's face.

"You…you transferred?" Kurt's voice shook, he was still trying to process this whole situation.

"Yep!" A broad grin spread across the shorter boys face and he waited for further reaction from the frozen boy.

"You're here…" Kurt whispered. "You transferred…here. You're at my school, you're at my…" He stopped and for a moment Blaine was unsure of what the other boy was thinking.

He was about to apologise and walk away when Kurt suddenly seemed to come to life and threw himself at Blaine again, almost knocking him off his feet.

"This is what you meant?" he yelled whilst gripping tightly to the shorter boy. Several students stopped in the hallway to watch the rambling spectacle that this normally well put together boy had become.

"When you told me to wait a week, this is why?" Kurt yelled again, Blaine noticed the onlookers and knew he had to stop Kurt before he embarrassed himself any more.

Blaine pulled away and placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders.

"Okay Kurt, calm down" He laughed. "Take a deep breath and stop for a minute. Yes this is why I asked you to wait. I called my parents from the coffee shop after I spoke to you. They said that whatever I thought was right was fine by them," he smiled at Kurt, urging the other boy to do the same.

He decided he should change the subject for a bit to give Kurt a chance to get over his dramatic reaction. He glanced over Kurt's head to the door of his open locker and smiled.

"So that's why you wanted that picture of me, I was curious." Blaine laughed, and Kurt blushed bright red, slamming the locker shut with such speed that the resulting crash echoed down the hallway. He looked away, trying to avoid eye contact with Blaine.

"Hey Kurt, it's cool. I'm flattered really. I don't think anyone has ever had a picture of me up anywhere, unless you count my parents and their 'Hall of Blaine'"

He immediately laughed at the look of pure confusion on Kurt's face.

"When we moved in, there was an empty room off one of the back corridors. We didn't find it until everything had already been designed and set up so it was just empty. So mum had the _wonderful_ idea of lining the walls with all their pictures of me and building pedestals for trophies and what-not. Whenever I went home over breaks from Dalton I always _begged_ them to remove it, but mum always refused. She says that it's like I am at home even when I'm not. Although… I guess now that I'm at home permanently I should be able to convince her to ditch it."

"Not before I get to see it!" Kurt interrupted. His face when bright red again when he realised what he'd just blurted out. "I didn't mean…I just wanted…" He stammered nervously.

"Kurt, it's okay, Wes and David _forced_ me to take them to see it after they found out. When you come to my house I promise I'll take you in, and then maybe we can convince them to take all the stuff down together." Blaine laughed and lifted his bag higher on his shoulder. Little did he know what kind of impact his last words had had on Kurt. _He wants me to go to his house. _He thought with a grin. _Blaine actually wants me in his home. He wants me to meet his parents. We'll be together forever!_ Okay, so may be his thoughts were getting a bit far ahead of reality but, hey! A boy can dream right?

Kurt noticed that the hallway was completely empty and realised that the bell had gone quite a while ago by now. "Blaine, let's go outside, it's a free period and we can talk more."

Kurt hitched his bag onto his shoulder and gestured for Blaine to follow him. They walked together to the football field and took a seat next to each other on the bleachers. They remained in silence, looking out over the field as the football team ran drills across the grass. Kurt could just make out Finn and Puck amongst the crowd and wondered whether they would notice that he was up there with some 'random new kid,' although he figured that they probably wouldn't care even if they did see.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to talk to you this week," Blaine offered up for conversation.

"It's alright, although I was a bit worried."

"I just had a lot to do, you know? I mean I had to tell the principle, the Warblers; I had to confront Wes and David. That was particularly hard." He stopped at the guilty look that spread across Kurt's face. "They totally understood though! They leave this year anyway so they said that as long as I promise to get on Skype every now and again it'd be okay."

"Why transfer though? I mean you could have just let me come to Dalton and you wouldn't have had to change anything." Kurt asked. Finally being able to word the question he'd wanted to ask since he'd first seen Blaine in the hallway.

"Yes, I could have just done that. I could have easily let you change your life instead of me. But if you want me to be honest Kurt I'm doing this for myself as much as for you. Remember when we first sat down for coffee after you came to spy and I told you that I really really regretted running from my bullies?" Kurt nodded. "Well I was telling the truth. I couldn't stand living with being such a coward. This is my chance to redeem myself."

"But Blaine…" Kurt started but Blaine held up a hand to silence him.

"No Kurt, I've made my decision and I'm here now so just accept it, okay?" His eyes met Kurt's and kept the contact until Kurt gave in and sighed heavily.

"Okay." He moved slightly closer to Blaine and once again made eye contact.

"I'm really glad you're here Blaine. " The sincerity in his eyes made Blaine's heart feel warmer and his face flushed with the affection.

"I'm really glad I'm here too." They both sat in content silence for a minute longer just enjoying being in each other's company. Soon the conversation started up again and turned to the general nonsense that they were so used to when being together.

Eventually the football players started filtering off the pitch, and the first couple of cheerios arrived and started stretching signalling that the school day had ended since they were both too far from the school to hear the bell.

"Well, I'm going to glee club," Kurt started, standing up and swinging his bag onto his shoulder, "are you going to come?"

"Of course, I'm definitely planning to try out for the New Directions."

"Ooh! I'm so glad." Kurt smiled. "They're going to love you." They walked down the bleachers, Kurt staying behind and keeping a constant, loving eye on Blaine, still not really believing that he was really there. He'd really transferred; they were _really_ going to school together. They were halfway across the field when Kurt had a sudden thought.

"You do realise you'll probably never get a solo again though right?" Kurt said, a look of guilt passing over his face as he realised yet another thing that Blaine had given up to help him.

"I know. To be honest I've had enough solos to last my entire school life. I don't mind passing the torch to someone else for a change."

"See how long you can keep that attitude when you meet the person you'll be handing it off to." He laughed as he thought about the Rachel Berry confrontation that was bound to occur eventually.

When they reached the choir room Kurt pushed open the door, entering first and allowing Blaine to follow. Everyone looked up as they entered and at first Kurt could tell they hadn't noticed the new guy. Then Mercedes saw, a huge grin spreading over her face and a squeal escaping her lips. The rest then looked over to Kurt properly and saw Blaine for the first time, a mixture of expressions on their faces, Intrigue being the main focus.

"Who's the hobbit?" Puck asked from his seat next to Santana at the front.

Blaine stepped towards him and held out his hand for Puck to shake. "I'm Blaine Anderson, I just transferred here from Dalton Academy, it's nice to meet you." Puck took the offered hand and give it one firm shake before pulling away. Santana glanced up at him.

"Gay?" she asked in a bored tone.

"100 per cent." Blaine replied sincerely, and Kurt wasn't sure why but his heart fluttered.

Santana sighed and snuggled in closer to Puck. "Typical." She said softly but didn't seem too put out so Blaine moved away returning to Kurts side.

"Wait…Dalton Academy?" Rachel asked from her place at the piano. "Isn't that where our competition is from?" she had accusation in her tone and everyone could feel it.

"Yes, The Warblers. I was their main lead until I transferred." Blaine kept his composure under the glaring eyes that acted like blinding spotlights and Kurt felt sorry for his friend for he knew what was about to come.

"Not again!" Tina cried from her position snuggled against Mikes chest.

"Excuse me?" Blaine questioned, and Kurt remembered that he had no knowledge of the Jesse St James incident. He stepped forward and spoke before anyone else could get there.

"Last year the lead member of Vocal Adrenaline transferred here and tricked us all into believing he was here to help. Especially Rachel," he lowered his voice slightly as he saw Rachel's face fall with the memory and embarrassment. "They were together, he basically made her fall in love with him and then he left. He and his team pelted Rachel with eggs." Blaine was disgusted. He couldn't cheats and liars but to do something like that, it was just awful. Especially the bit about Rachel. No one deserves to be treated like that. Blaine was a hopeless romantic and love was such a sacred thing to him that he could never imagine using it just to rattle the competition. He stepped away from Kurt and spoke to everyone.

"Look, I'm sorry to hear about that. It's truly disgusting what some people will do to win, but I promise that I'm not here to destroy your club or anything like that. If I didn't love the stage so much then I would prove it by not joining at all." Rachel looked like she was going to comment on that so Blaine quickly added, "But I do… I do love the stage and I love performing with other people who love it as much as me. So I would like to be on the New Directions. If you'll have me." Kurt put his hand on Blaine's arm, smiling at him and Blaine felt the pride from him. His heart fluttered.

"I don't expect to just jump in and for you to accept me in, so I planned a little something to show you what I can do. If i may...?" he looked over to Mr Schuester who had yet to speak, and who nodded eagerly. He was happy enough to see what they would all be up against for sectionals even if this boy wasn't there anymore.

Blaine shook off Kurt's arm and walked over to Puck, gesturing towards the guitar resting against his chair.

"Could I…?" Puck nodded nonchalantly and handed over the instrument. Blaine tossed the strap over his shoulder and weighed the guitar in his hands while whispering something to Brad at the piano, the pianist thought for a moment before nodding and placed his hands on the keys ready to play.

With a cue from Blaine they both began to play, the melody starting slow and steady. Blaine strummed a few chords before taking a deep breath and he began to sing.

_So we drive at the fate of this deep phoenix sky__  
__With it's contents that keep me alive__  
__Incessantly breathing through the night__  
__Till we crash with the white caps that ride on our backs__  
__Breaking down on the sand of this western coast__  
__Where I never once thought we would stand__  
__But here we are now__  
__Riding currents that taste of a new town__  
__Feeling high as the night's winding down__  
__And now all I can see are white stars they span forever__  
__As I lay by a streetlight not a word I could possibly say__  
__To explain my intrigue by how emphatic we are just to be, just to be_

His voice softened and his eyes locked with Kurt's as he poured emotion into his words.

_Now we run facing out at the south western sun__  
__So content to be all so undone__  
__Cause here in these moments we have won__  
__And I'm sure that I've imagined these sites__  
__But I forget why I was never enticed to go out and try__  
__But tonight dream becomes life_

As he continued, Blaine began to move around the room, swaying with the music and he closed his eyes against the looks of appreciation from the Glee club. He was completely in the song now, his whole body playing the part of the performer he'd always been.

_Cause here we are now__  
__Riding currents they taste of a new town__  
__We're so high as the night's winding down__  
__Just a spot on the map of this land it spans forever__  
__As I lay by a streetlight not a word I could possibly say__  
__To explain my intrigue by how emphatic we are just to be__  
__And I won't take a minute for granted__  
__I won't waste another word__  
__These streets I would kill to be lost in_

Blaine simply stood and swayed, strumming lightly on the strings, his eyes still closed. If he had looked over at Kurt in that moment he would have seen the admiration and love radiating from the soprano.

There was a crescendo in the music and Blaine belted out the chorus. The pure power in his voice stopped Kurt's' entire being and he was completely fixated on the gorgeous boy in front of him.

_i__iiiii lay by a streetlight as the summer air soaks in my lungs__  
__How impressive are we just to live and breathe in this world__  
__And how lucky am I to be so alive in this world__  
__Oh how precious are we just to simply be in this world_

The last note hung in the air, echoing off the walls and disappearing into the silence. Everyone in the room was stunned. Besides Kurt, no one had ever heard the Warblers perform therefore never hearing Blaine sing. Even Kurt had to admit that song was beyond amazing, it had such a raw passion that he hadn't felt when listening to 'Teenage Dream.' As well as this, Kurt hadn't known that Blaine had that much instrumental talent. He remembered the boy mentioning his occasional guitar session that he partook in when no one was around the dorms, but never had he imagined that it would be that beautiful.

Mr Schuester finally broke the silence.

"Well then, we better write you in for sectionals."

xxx

And there's Chapter 2 for you

Please review.

Song was 'Streetlights' By Making April.

And also feel free to submit any things you'd like to see happen as well as songs you'd like to see sung. I can't guarantee everything will make it in but I would like to be able to include some things that people want to see. (leave me a message on my tumblr which is on my profile page *ehem shameless plug* or pm or whatever.) Would love you hear from you guys!


	3. Chapter 3

So I finished my story playlist so maybe it'll be easier to write more now.  
This chapter may not be as long as some people write but it's the longest I've done in my history of writing FF. Pride I has it.

xxx

In the weeks that passed leading up to sectionals Blaine seemed to be settling in very well. He had considered trying out for the football team at first but, when he had arrived at the field and discovered he was half the size of most boys, ended up back on the bench with Kurt whispering 'I don't want to be crushed' over and over as Kurt laughed hysterically.

So he decided to stay focused on New Directions instead. The Glee club had taken him in like a brother, they always listened to his ideas for the set list, they readily listened to his opinions and they had performed many a song that he had suggested just for fun.

Of course things were a lot different for him since he was so used to the ways of the council. He'd never really had to make any decisions on his own that hadn't been subtly put there by other members of the Warblers. So being able to see his ideas and suggestions taken seriously made him feel very special and gave him a huge boost in confidence. This he used to secure a solo line in the big group number as well as a couple for Kurt and Mercedes.

Rachel hadn't been too happy with this arrangement at first but after some coercion from both Blaine and Finn, as well as the promise of an epic solo opening number she'd come around to the idea. Though she still attempted to cut down each of their parts as much as possible.

Blaine and Kurt were able to spend a lot more time together now and it was definitely showing in their relationship. They had given multiple musical demonstrations in glee meaning that they spent most of their time together in the choir room rehearsing. Their rendition of _Back to me_ by _The All American Rejects _had given them many hours together and the flirting had begun to get stronger. Although Kurt was convinced that Blaine was just putting his acting to good use and that maybe all this 'flirting' was just being built up inside the sopranos head.

Kurt had always been more focused on learning that the majority of students in his year, something he had always taken pride in. Therefore, Kurt's higher level of intelligence meant that Blaine had ended up in the majority of his classes. After being taught by the excellent tutors that Dalton had provided, Blaine was definitely in a higher level learning bracket and was even taking a couple of classes with the seniors as per his agreement with his parents. They had been happy with his decision to transfer but had made him promise that it wouldn't ruin his studies that he had spent years focusing on.

Kurt and Blaine sat together in classes, passing and sharing notes between themselves. Occasionally their fingers would touch as the note was passed and they would both blush but turn away from each other in an attempt to hide their reactions.

Kurt knew that his feelings for Blaine were developing too quickly for it to be normal. It had only been a couple of months since they had met after all, but it felt so natural when they were together that he really didn't care. Blaine didn't seem to mind either so it was pretty much a win-win situation, Kurt didn't want to deny his feelings but he had promised himself that he would wait until Blaine seemed ready to accept his affections. He hadn't quite figured out how he would be able to tell but from what he saw in movies and what he read in novels things would just…happen. If they were meant to.

xxx

It was the day of the Sectionals competition and all of the New Directions had somehow managed to arrive at school by 7.30am, which was quite a feat for them. Especially since they had all been at the school until close to 11 pm and most hadn't made it home until close to midnight.

Blaine had spent a while looking for Kurt. The bus was leaving in about half an hour and Blaine had something he wanted to say before they left. He'd been thinking about this moment ever since he had first met Kurt and he didn't want to wait any longer. The others were all in the auditorium getting in some last minute rehearsal and Blaine had decided this was the best opportunity to do what he needed to do. He had been waiting for Kurt to arrive for about 15 minutes before he decided that he'd have to go to him. Mercedes had told him that she'd seen him sorting through music sheets in his locker not too long ago so that was the first place he had checked when he excused himself from rehearsal.

Kurt hadn't been at his locker and Blaine didn't really know where to check next. He wandered around the 1st floor, checking in bathrooms and classrooms with no luck. He was just heading towards the staircase when he heard music begin to echo down the hallway. Blaine was drawn towards the choir room as the sound of the piano grew stronger and a voice joined the soft chords.

_Something in your eyes makes me wanna lose myself  
makes me wanna lose myself  
in your arms._

It was definitely Kurt; Blaine could always recognise his beautiful, perfect voice.

_There's something in your voice makes my heart beat fast  
Hope this feeling lasts  
The rest of my life_

Blaine was outside the choir room now, his hand on the door handle too afraid to go inside. All he wanted to do was listen to that voice forever. He was always astonished by the way that the sopranos voice hit a chord deep inside his heart and radiated warmth and…well…love throughout his entire being.

_If you knew how lonely my life has been  
And how long I've been so alone  
And if you knew how I wanted someone to come along  
And change my life the way you've done_

It was at this point in the song that Blaine started really listening to the lyrics that this flawless boy was singing. The song was pretty sad and Blaine felt tears in his eyes as he listened. He shifted sideways so that he could now see through the small window in the door and there he was. Blaine was pleasantly surprised to see that Kurt was sat _at _the piano, his fingers gliding across the keys seamlessly and his body swaying with the melody.

_It feels like home to me  
Feels like home to me  
it Feels like im all the way back where I come from_

_And it feels like home to me  
It feels like home to me  
It feels like im all the way back where I belong._

_A window breaks  
Down a long dark street  
And a siren wails  
In the night  
But I'm alright coz I have you here with me  
And I can almost see  
Through the dark there is light_

Going into the next part of the song Kurt seemed to be engrossed enough for Blaine to risk entering the room. He gently pressed down the handle slowly and pushed the door open a crack, slipping through the gap and pressing himself against the wall. He wasn't sure why he was treating this like a covert mission but he knew one thing for sure, he never wanted Kurt to stop singing. From his place inside the room now the song was even more beautiful…if that was possible. __

If you knew how much this moment means to me  
And how long I've waited for your touch  
And if you knew how happy you are making me  
I never thought that I'd love anyone so much.

The pure emotion in Kurt's voice was enough to almost knock Blaine off his feet, he slid down the wall never taking his eyes off the countertenor in front of him.  
_  
And it feels like home to me  
It feels like home to me  
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from  
It feels like home to me  
It feels like home to me  
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong  
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong._

Kurt held the last note past the last bar of music. The song appeared to have drained the young soprano because the second his voice faded into silence Blaine watched as he dropped his head into his hands, elbows resting on the edge of the smooth black surface. Blaine forced himself to his feet, edged closer to the hunched over figure and could just make out the slight mumbling.

"Forget it Kurt, it's hopeless. He'll never love you. He's too good for you." Those words hit something deep inside Blaine's chest and he just wanted to pull the boy into his arms and never let go. Whoever he was talking about would never be good enough for Kurt. No one was too good for this angelic creature. All Blaine wanted was to be able to hold this boy forever and kiss away his pain and sadness, and, as much as it hurt to see him crying over some other guy Blaine would still give this a try. Because he'd never know otherwise.

He stepped closer to the piano and reached his hand out towards Kurt.

"Kurt?" He spoke softly but the countertenor still jumped, startled. He whipped around, eyes wide is shock.

"Blaine…? What are you…?" He paused, his eyes getting even wider and he swallowed heavily. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it. That was a beautiful song Kurt." Kurt's face relaxed, believing that Blaine hadn't heard any of the words he'd spoken into his hands. Blaine considered his next move very carefully. He didn't want to impose on any 'budding romance' Kurt may be vouching for but if he didn't try then he'd never know.

"No one is too good for you, Kurt." The taller boy looked stunned, _shit, he heard me? What if he knows I meant him? Damn it, damn it… _thoughts along those lines were buzzing in his head and Blaine knelt in front of him.

"Blaine…" Kurt began to protest but Blaine cut him off.

"No Kurt, stop please. I can't not do this anymore. So just hear me out okay?" At Kurt's soft nod he continued. "I know we haven't known each other very long and this is probably totally inappropriate but i…" He paused and took a deep breath. _Here it goes. This could be end of everything. Or the start of something totally awesome. BE A MAN BLAINE. _"I'm in love with you, Kurt. I'm in love with everything you do, everything you say. I'm in love with your smile and your laugh and your…passion. I felt it the moment we met on that stairwell. When our hands touched I felt a…spark. The kind I thought only happened in fairy tales and cheesy romance movies." He smiled, tilting his head to the side. "It only took a second to lose myself to you Kurt and..." He could see tears in Kurt's eyes and he didn't know what to think, they could be happy tears _oh god I hope they're happy tears_ or they could be embarrassment. Blaine exhaled slowly and met Kurt's eyes with such intensity that Kurt could almost feel them looking into his very soul. "I really _really _want to be with you."

Kurt was stunned. Completely and utterly stunned.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have ever expected this to happen. Here was Blaine, the subject of all Kurt's emotions, spilling his heart out, reflecting everything Kurt had been feeling since that same moment.

He had decided to give his voice a warm up alone that morning since everyone was in the auditorium. Mercedes had left him flicking through papers in his locker from which he'd chosen that song. At first he'd just thought of it as being a good melody to work his high notes but when he had sat at the piano and the lyrics had come pouring from his lips he realised he'd chosen it for a more personal reason, he wasn't just singing with his voice. He was singing with his heart. The song really was about him and Blaine. Well, at the time it had just been his take on his own feelings but now… now he knew Blaine felt the same way. Speaking of Blaine…

He was almost out of the door. _Shit how long was I just staring for? _He quickly jumped up and crossed the room. Blaine was apologising as he walked away, head hung low in defeat. Kurt reached out and held Blaine's wrist in his hand, spinning the shorter boy around he knew what he wanted…needed to do. He tugged Blaine towards him and their lips crashed together. It wasn't soft, nor was it rough…it was a kiss full of emotion and need. A kiss felt right through to Kurt's soul. Blaine gasped for breath and Kurt took the opportunity to slip his tongue into the other boys mouth, now was not the time to be subtle. He loved this boy, more than he'd ever loved anything in his life and he now knew that the feeling was mutual.

The sound of clapping broke them away from each other. They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, their faces flushed and their breathing heavy.

"I'm in love with you too." Kurt whispered softly and leaned in again before remembering what had broken them apart to begin with. Kurt looked over Blaine's shoulder to the door and found the rest of their team mates standing there eyes wide and grins on their faces. Mercedes looked like she was about to burst into tears and Quinn had her hand over her chest, a content look in her eyes. Blaine turned to see what Kurt was looking at and smiled.

"How's it going guys?" he laughed, his hand entwined with Kurt's behind his back.

"We just wanted to tell you that the bus is about to leave." Rachel replied.

"Right…okay" Kurt breathed, leaning against Blaine. "I guess we should go then," he couldn't disguise the disappointment in his voice and it made Blaine laugh.

He gave Kurt's hand a light squeeze and put his head on the other boys shoulder.

"Yeah…I guess we should." Blaine strode across the room, tugging Kurt along behind him as the other boy was refusing to let go of his hand.

The other glee clubbers had no words to say. They had seen the relationship developing between the two ever since day one and couldn't deny how ecstatic they were to see them finally get together. Above anything else they were just in love with Kurt's happiness. They had all seen how broken he had become, they'd all seen how much depression the loneliness had brought. Blaine was like a miracle. And they weren't even being over-dramatic.

They wished to be able to step aside and leave the couple alone but…well the bus. Sectionals. They kind of _had _to get a move on.

They all walked together to the bus, Kurt and Blaine hanging behind slightly, fingers still entwined. The couple took a seat at the back of the bus and Kurt leaned against Blaine.

"Don't take this the wrong way but…" Kurt started, Blaine met his eyes with worry. "I honestly can't believe that just happened." Blaine sighed and smiled. He put an arm around Kurt's shoulder and drew the taller boy tighter against his chest.

"Don't worry about it Kurt, I was half expecting you to run away." He laughed. "I have to admit…you kind of scared me when you didn't say anything…I was sure you were gonna tell me to get lost or something." A blush bloomed on his face and he refused to meet Kurt's gaze.

Kurt reached over and put a finger under Blaine's chin, turning his face so that Blaine could see the sincerity in his eyes.

"Never, Blaine. I would have _never_ told you to get lost. I…I was in shock! Do you know how mad it is to suddenly be listening to the boy you love tell you that he loves you back?" Blaine didn't reply, he simply leaned closer to Kurt so that his head rested on the other boys.

"SECTIONALS GUYS! LET'S DO THIS!" Mr Schuester cried from the front of the bus drawing the couple's attention to the enthusiastic cheers of the others. They laughed and joined in, subconsciously gripping tighter to one another and basking in the comfort they'd gained in such a short amount of time.

xxx

They were cheering when they got back on the bus. Yes, they'd won Sectionals again. Although it hadn't been as easy this year, the other teams had almost shown them up. Especially The Warblers. According to Blaine, who had quickly run off to catch up with his friends the second they'd arrived, the loss of their lead had spurred the acapella choir to change up their ways. They all agreed that they had relied too heavily on the dapper boy whilst he had been there and, as much as they hated him resigning, it had really been a good thing in the end.

Rachel epic solo number had every one on their feet, cheering louder than the New Directions had ever heard. The group number had been met with dancing and insane applause and they had all left the stage on such a high they never thought they would come back down.

It had ended with the decision being between the Warblers and The New Directions. The judges said that they'd never had such a tough decision and for a brief moment the members of both show choirs were convinced they had lost.

Then the Announcer had read out Kurt's team they had screamed…then cheered…then Kurt and Blaine kissed…Then Blaine got dragged away by the Warblers to be congratulated in their own humble way.

They were back on the bus before anyone really knew what was happening. Rachel clutched the giant-ass trophy and, surprisingly, commended everyone else on their fabulous performance and commitment before moving onto her own part in the win. Mercedes rolled her eyes at the self-proclaimed star and looked over to Kurt. Said boy was sprawled out over the seats half asleep but staring at his boyfriend- _boyfriend_- as he chatted idly with Artie and Brittany with the eyes of a lovesick puppy.

She smiled and stood up, making her way over to Kurt she kicked his leg lightly and he tiredly moved himself over so that the seat next to him was free for his best friend.

"Right white boy." She started, crossing one leg over the other so she could face Kurt head on. "Tell me everything." This was the first time they had been able to talk since the morning and Mercedes was not going to let something this bug happen without details.

Kurt laughed, he knew this moment was coming but to be honest he couldn't explain it. He could barely even remember how it had happened himself. Yeah it had only happened about 9 hours previously but he couldn't for the life of him focus on anything but _we kissed and he loves me and I have a boyfriend._

"I was singing…yeah I was definitely singing and he came in…" He paused and a smile rose up on his face. "And then it goes blank 'Cedes! Then all I know is that we were kissing and it felt so good. It was amazing and…seriously that whole memory is shadowed by the fact that we kissed. KISSED Mercedes. Me and Blaine." He trailed off and Mercedes laughed, pulling Kurt in for a hug.

"I'm so _so_ happy for you Kurt." She whispered and Kurt let out a breathy _thank you_ tears welling up in his eyes.

As if sensing the tears Blaine turned around from his conversation and excused himself. Mercedes stood as he approached and bundled Kurt up in his arms.

"What's wrong Kurt?" He whispered.

"I never thought I'd be this happy." His voice shook and Blaine put his lips to Kurt's soft hair, kissing him softly whispering _me too baby, me too. _

The others left the couple alone on the journey back. It had been a big day for everyone but for Kurt and Blaine it had been the start of so much more.

Yup, there goes chapter 3. Please review. I'm not going to say I won't update unless I get reviews because I'm not like that but I like to know what people think. Don't forget your suggestions!

I CAN'T WRITE COMPETITION.  
I just can't. I knew when I started this that I wouldn't be writing them out. They should consider themselves lucky that they won at all. I was considering having them lose.


	4. Chapter 4

This took way too long to write… sorry .  
I couldn't decide what I wanted to happen so I mixed a few things around and I give you…

My lovely word vomit :)

* * *

Blaine was standing next to Kurt as he rifled through his locker for his Christmas sheet music. It had been a week since sectionals and the glee club were taking a break before beginning their preparations for regionals.

"Kurt, can't you just use Rachel's music?" Blaine whined, shifting his bag higher on his shoulder. "We're going to be late."

"Seriously, Blaine? Surely you've been here long enough to realise no one cares," He paused, a thought playing in his eyes. "Well, no one but Rachel. And anyway I need my _own_ music; I was up all weekend finding the _perfect_ song to blow Rachel away." He smiled and carried on flicking through the paper before finding what he was looking for with a short "gotcha." Passed into the air.

Suddenly there was a flash of red and Kurt was flying towards the lockers, his papers flying out of his hands and up in the air. His shoulder hit first with a deafening crash that echoed down the hallway and, as he reached out with his left hand to steady himself, he felt a jolt of pain rip through his forearm.

"What the hell, Karofsky?" Blaine screamed, his feet itching to chase down the Jock and beat him to the floor but, seeing his boyfriend leaning against the metal, eyes screwed shut in pain stopped him short.

"Kurt. Are you ok?" he whispered, rubbing his hands up and down Kurt's arm lovingly.

Kurt took a deep breath before nodding.

"Yeah… yeah I'm ok; it was bound to happen again eventually." If he was being honest then he'd admit that he was surprised it had taken this long for Karofsky to reappear. A month had passed since the jock had been allowed back into McKinley and up until this day the closest they had been to each other was being on opposite sides of the cafeteria. Kurt had been stupidly thinking that Karofsky had decided he wasn't worth the hassle…a reasonable assumption really.

Except now he knew that wasn't the truth.

Kurt cradled his hand against his chest as he felt Blaine's arm settle around his shoulder and winced as the touch knocked the bruises he knew would be forming.

"Do you need to go to the nurse?" Blaine asked, worried. He'd never seen a locker slam so violent and was partially glad that _his_ bullies had never thought of it. He could see the pain in Kurt's eyes as he used an arm around his boyfriends shoulder to steady him and pulled away.

Kurt shook his head, but Blaine looked unsure. Seeing the look in his boyfriends' eyes he smiled reassuringly.

"Seriously Blaine its fine, I've had worse." Bad choice of words. Blaine's head immediately snapped up, fire burning there.

"What do you mean, you've had worse?" Kurt flinched at the anger but knew it wasn't directed at him so he just smiled again although this one was slightly more hesitant.

"Baby I mean it, it's fine." Blaine wasn't taking it anymore and took Kurt gently but firmly by the uninjured arm and steered him in the direction of the Choir room.

Everyone was gathered on the steps and flicking through sheet music when the couple marched in, Blaine dragging Kurt behind him. Kurt knew that Blaine's anger was overly dramatic but he couldn't help but love the protective vibe that his boyfriend was emitting.

Blaine could see Finn rising from his chair, a confused look on his face whilst he watched his step-brother being manhandled. The dapper young man released his boyfriends arm.

"Did you guys know?" he asked quietly, the rage still boiling inside him.

"Did we know what?" Rachel spoke at the same time as Finn said, "What's happened Kurt?"

"It's nothing Finn, Blaine's just _over reacting._" He emphasised the last part with a light punch to Blaine's arm. Unfortunately this did nothing to deter the short boy.

"Did you know how badly Kurt's being hurt?" he was trying to stay as calm as possible but, when he glanced back at Kurt he could see the beginnings of a bruise blossoming on his boyfriends perfect skin and could see how tenderly Kurt moved his wrist.

Finn approached the couple.

"Oh my god Kurt," He glanced past Blaine towards Kurt and could see the defeat in his eyes as much as he was trying to hide it. "Kurt?"

Kurt couldn't respond. He had to admit that he liked the way Blaine was standing up for him and he would never say it out loud but through behind his strong façade all he really wanted was someone to protect him like Blaine was doing at that moment.

Blaine reached over and for a second Kurt had no idea what he was going to do. His fingers closed around the collar of Kurt's green sweater and pulled it down over his shoulder, revealing the marred skin.

The residents of the room all gasped in unison, most of the girls had their hands over their mouths. Mercedes just looked sick. Kurt shrugged Blaine off, his hand coming back to his chest as it throbbed. He had been telling the truth when he told Blaine that he'd had worse, there had been that one time when he'd ended up on the floor unable to move for a good 10 minutes or so, but this was pretty close.

Blaine saw the discomfort showing plainly on Kurt's face and realised he hadn't yet seen to Kurt's wrist. The force with which he had hit the locker had been frightening and the fact that he had used his hand to muffle the force meant that it was probably a bad injury.

"Let me see…" He gestured towards the limp limb. The countertenor sighed and offered it out to him. Blaine gently took hold of his hand and slid the sleeve up his skinny arm, gasping with horror as he did so.

The top of his forearm was a deep purple which, given the little amount of time that had passed since the incident, meant that the injury was worse than Blaine had thought.

Making sure he was careful with Kurt's hand between them, he leaned in towards his boyfriend, pressing their foreheads together and whispered so softly that the rest of the glee club couldn't understand. They watched as Blaine put his lips to Kurt's in a gentle, chaste kiss that held so much love.

They had all seen Kurt being shoved into lockers, thrown into dumpsters (some more closely than others, in Puck and Finns case) and being repeatedly slushied more times than all of the others put together. They had never, however, seen the results of each attack. Seeing the bruises on their friends usually flawless skin was too much for most of them to handle. The time for sitting back and ignoring it really was over.

For Finn this was the wakeup call he needed. He was the only one within the glee club who knew the full extent to which the bullying had reached. Kurt had wanted to keep the death threat from his friends because he hadn't wanted any of them to do something they would regret…like trying to take down Karofsky themselves.

Kurt would never have forgiven himself if one of them had been hurt because of him.

Blaine had led Kurt over to one of the plastic seats near the band area and was slowly examining his wrist further, trying to gage whether it needed a professional assessment.

The girls were crowding around, giving him just enough space to be able to draw a breath but not enough to avoid the apologies they were showering on him. Kurt was trying to wave them off, protesting that it really didn't matter. He wasn't fooling anyone.

Puck was pacing, mumbling obscenities and plans that would put him back in Juvi immediately. Mike was silently fuming, sitting on a chair with Tina in his lap the latter of which was sobbing helplessly with the anger at what they had been denying.

"We have to tell the principal." Blaine spoke once he had decided that Kurt's injury wasn't too severe and just needed a little TLC.

"No, Blaine." Kurt's voice was firm with no room for argument. "I'm not going through that again." His voice broke at the end and Blaine felt tears in the corner of his eye at the sound.

"But Kurt...there's evidence now, that's all we were missing last time. They can't overrule it now that we have _evidence._" He put his hands over Kurt's and rubbed his thumb over the bruising.

Kurt sighed. He really didn't want to disappoint Blaine but he knew that he had to tell him what he didn't want to hear.

"I really _really_ wish it would work Blaine. But the truth is they'll always be against me and you know it. They'll find something. No one besides you and I were there, the hallway was empty so no witnesses. You're my _boyfriend_ they'll use that to their advantage, you could be lying for me for all they care. I know you don't want to hear it but you know that it's true."

Everyone was silent. Why couldn't Kurt be wrong?

Blaine pulled his boyfriend to his chest curling an arm around his waist and one around the back of Kurt's head. He ran his fingers through the soft hair, silently registering the lack of protest from the boy who was usually so obsessed with how he looks, to the point that people were slapped if they came near his soft locks. He shared a worried look with Mercedes over his shoulder.

Mr Schuester chose that moment to walk in, papers in hand and a smile on his face that died the moment that he saw the state of everyone in the room.

All the girls plus Mike were sitting in a circle around Blaine and Kurt, the latter of the pair was cuddled against his boyfriend, body slumped in defeat. The guys were all in states of silent fury.

"What's going on guys?" he asked with worry in his tone.

Kurt sat up quickly, his right hand coming up to scrub tears out of his eyes.

"Nothing, Mr Schue." He held up his hand to any protest. "Seriously. Nothing, can we just please rehearse?" Blaine closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose before nodding in the teachers' direction. There was no point arguing with Kurt any longer, he was too stubborn for his own good.

The other reluctantly stood, casting glances back at Kurt whilst taking their places to rehearse. Blaine also stood, his hand entwined with Kurt's. At that moment Kurt's phone vibrated in his pocket and he let go of his boyfriends' hand.

"Go ahead; I'll just be a second." He smiled reassuringly. Blaine leaned forward kissing his forehead tenderly and heading over to where Santana and Brittany were stretching.

Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the text message displayed.

From: Withheld.

_Did you think it was over Homo?_

Kurt shook but swallowed down his fear for his boyfriend's sake. The last thing he wanted was to upset Blaine again. So he shoved his phone back into his pocket and straightened his clothes. The others were slowly copying the steps that Mr Schuester was demonstrating and Kurt fell into the rhythm seamlessly like nothing had happened.

* * *

"Thanks for the ride Kurt; I really thought my Dad would be back from work by now." Blaine had felt bad accepting Kurt's offer to take him home after glee club had finished, what with his injured wrist and all. But Kurt had overheard him on the phone to his dad and had insisted.

"It's no problem, it doesn't even hurt anymore." He lifted up his arm and twisted his hand round in circles to prove it. "I couldn't exactly let you walk home could i?" Kurt smiled. Blaine's house, while still being in Lima, was a good distance from the school and it would have taken Blaine the better part of an hour on foot.

"Do you want to come in for a bit? You can rest your arm before you have to drive back." Kurt rolled his eyes. "I know it hurts Kurt, you can't fool me."

"It's fine Blaine, I'll just make sure I get some ice on it when I get home."

Blaine sighed but leaned over to give his boyfriend a light peck on the lips.

"Call me later okay?" he smiled while throwing open the passenger door and swinging his legs out of the car.

"Of course." He watched at Blaine headed towards the gap in the hedges, Kurt couldn't see Blaine's house from his position but he saw the tip of the gates opening and closing so he knew Blaine was inside.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, wondering how he got so lucky to have a boyfriend like Blaine. The whole afternoon had really been testament to Blaine's caring and the care he had received from the dapper boy was something he had never really experienced before. Never had he been looked after like that post-incident.

He didn't notice the car pulling up behind him, nor did he notice the doors opening and a tall figure getting out. He didn't notice the guy walking towards him until the door was wrenched open and he was being pulled roughly from his car.

His already bruised shoulder hit the hard tarmac road and he gasped in pain. He felt a solid punch to his stomach and groaned in pain, gasping as he tried to get air into his lungs.

"Did you think I'd forgotten about you, fancy?" Kurt's eyes shot open at the familiar voice. Karofsky. Another blow to his stomach was accompanied seconds later with a kick to his ribs. He rolled onto his back blinking away tears and moaning in agony. _Shit,_ he thought, _shit shit shit. _He couldn't believe this was happening; only a few hours ago he was thinking that maybe the jock had moved on, and now he was rolling around on the hard road with Karofsky's feet inches from his face.

A beefy hand grabbed the front of his collar and dragged him to his feet. Kurt's eyes widened in panic as he was forced face to face with the bully, he had never seen so much rage in anyone's face since Coach Sylvester accidentally intercepted one of the hockey teams shushie attacks and got a face full of blue big quench.

"I've been waiting for this for weeks." The jock growled.

Kurt shuddered, which just caused even more pain to rip through his body.

"This is going to be fun."

* * *

ooo cliff hanger.  
yeah i can never write those... hope this was okay :)

Review please.


	5. Chapter 5

Forgot to say, the song that Kurt sang in chapter 3 was '_home' _by _Chantal Kreviazuk_ it's my Klaine song, I just think it fits so beautifully

Sorry it took me so long to write this… I've been working on some oneshots that I'll be posting in a couple of days' time so keep an eye out. It's kind of short, this chapter, but I really wanted to get it up today and if I tried to get the next bit in as well it would have been a while.

Also…thank Klaine for Glee-radio. This wouldn't have been written without it.

enough dibble. heres chapter 5.

* * *

Kurt pressed the tiny golden buzzer above the voice grate, thankful for the lack of force needed for the action, even his fingers throbbed. After a second a soft female voice drifted through the speaker.

"Anderson Residence, how can I help you?"

"Hi…" He whispered, his throat aching. "I need to see Blaine. I'm his boyfriend."

"One moment please."

There was a quiet crackle that echoed through the air then a buzz and a click before the towering wrought-iron gates slowly opened allowing Kurt to limp up the driveway as quickly as he could. His foot was killing him, as was his wrist and his throat was throbbing as much as his eye. To be honest, everything was aching. _Everything._

He limped up the tarmac route, every step was agony and every twinge of pain reminded him of how it got there.

_He was crawling away…another hand on his shoulder, wrenching him backwards…_

_"Please…please don't hurt me anymore." He had begged._

_and begged_

_and begged_

_until his begging became so much more, until he was pleading…_

"_Please Karofsky…please don't kill me."_

He sniffled, blinking back tears of both defeat and pain. He was cold, in pain, becoming increasingly tired with every agonising step and all he wanted was to cuddle his boyfriend and see if he can take all his pain away.

A few steps later he could see Blaine's silhouette approaching him and quickened his pace, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg. Each step sent an agonising impact spiking through to the bones and his face scrunched up in torture. He didn't care; all he wanted was to be in his boyfriends arms.

"Kurt? What are you doing here, if you wanted to stay you should have…" He trailed off as he got closer; noting the slow, staggering steps Kurt was taking. He began to run, his pace getting faster and faster as he saw more of his boyfriend; the harsh red marks that were already darkening into bruises, the blood seeping through the pale blue t-shirt he was wearing. The jacket he had been wearing when he'd dropped Blaine off had gone; the skin that was offered to the elements was tinted blue beneath the bright red scratches and scrapes.

His jeans were ripped at the knees and smeared with grungy bits of mud as well as blood that, as he got closer, Blaine could see leaking out of a wound above Kurt's knee cap.

The shorter boy slowed his pace as he reached Kurt; he put his arms out towards his boyfriend just in time to catch his as he collapsed to the tarmac.

Kurt had reached his limits, everything ached and stung and burned. He could _feel_ every single drop of blood that leaked down his skin from each wound, every bruise throbbed and his head felt ready to give up on him. By the time Blaine was close enough to see clearly through his swollen eyes his body had used up every drop of energy and suddenly the floor was in front of him and his wounds seared as strong arms wrapped themselves around his torso.

"What happened?" Blaine questioned through panicked breaths.

Kurt tried to reply, he really did, but his throat was bruised from Karofsky's beefy grip and all that came out was a breathy croak.

"Can't…" he hated how his voice broke and a series of rough coughs forced themselves right from his chest.

"Yeah…uhh...Yeah…let's get you inside." Blaine was panicking, Kurt could tell. He could understand too, he didn't know what he looked like but if it was anything like he felt then he knew it must be awful.

His ribs throbbed as Blaine put an arm around his back and under his knees and lifted his against his chest. Even though Blaine was a few inches shorter than his boyfriend he was easily able to lift the boy, which worried Blaine. He knew that Kurt had been losing weight during the severe bullying period but hadn't realised how bad it must have become. Kurt groaned in his arms and he snapped back to himself.

Turning swiftly towards his house he set off at a fast but steady pace, for once cursing that his family home was so large, the driveway was much longer than he'd like in this situation. Kurt's head rested gently on Blaine's shoulder and in any other situation Blaine would be happy for the gesture, but right there he was sure it was because Kurt was too out of it to keep his head up straight. This did nothing to quell the dapper boy's worries and his footsteps quickened even more.

The door was still ajar when he reached the front step, he sighed in relief because he was pretty sure that if he he'd had to put Kurt down to open it the injured boy wouldn't have been able to stay on his feet. He headed straight for the lounge and placed Kurt gently on one of the soft cream sofas in front of the TV; wincing at the pained moan that escaped his soft lips that were painted with dark, crusted blood.

He pulled a soft green out from underneath the coffee table and gently tucked it around his shaking boyfriend being careful not to jostle too many wounds. This wasn't an easy task.

As he turned to go get a first aid kit Kurt seemed to come back to himself, his pale hand reached out weakly in Blaine's direction and a whimper slipped out from deep in his throat.

"Oh baby, it's ok. I'm just going to get some stuff to help you ok?" He linked his fingers with Kurt's and leaned down to place a tender kiss on his boyfriends forehead' being mindful of the mass of marks all over his face. He gave Kurt's hand a squeeze and was grateful when the boy let him go, allowing him to find anything he could use to take some of Kurt's pain away.

He felt awful leaving his boyfriend in this state and had to force himself not to look back into the lounge as he headed for the store closet. He didn't think his heart could handle much more of the pained look in Kurt's eyes.

He plucked random items out of his reasonably well-stocked first aid cupboard, the counter already covered in various sized bandages and gauze packets, there was a large pink bowl filled halfway with luke warm water with a soft black face towel pre-soaking inside it. He stuffed the items into a brown paper bag and lifted the water bowl off the side tucking it under his arm before leaving the closet.

Kurt was more awake by the time he returned, his blue eyes glistening with unshed tears and Blaine could feel wetness in his own at the strength his boyfriend was displaying. He couldn't help but feel terrible that Kurt felt he _had_ to be strong even when he'd been beaten to a pulp; something Blaine was determined to crack, everyone needs to let go sometime.

"Blaine." Kurt whispered painfully and Blaine snapped out of his thoughts. Placing the water bowl down on the coffee table he sat on the edge of the sofa and put his hand on Kurt's forehead running his thumb back and forth across his abused skin.

"I'm here baby, I'm here." He honestly didn't know what else to say, Sighing heavily he scooped the cloth out of the water and squeezed out the excess liquid. He hesitated, knowing that any touch is going to cause Kurt more pain, but pressed on because he also knew that benefits would outweigh problems in this situation.

As he had guessed, the second the cloth touched the first cut on Kurt's cheek said boy hissed in pain, his face twitching away from Blaine's hand. He placed a hand on Kurt's arm, repeating the process of rubbing his thumb back and forth in an attempt to sooth the pained boy.

"I know it hurts Kurt, but I have to clean these or they could get infected. I'm sorry, I hate to do it but I need to okay?" He waited a few seconds, thinking for a moment that he was being ignored but then Kurt's head tilted ever so slightly closer to Blaine's hand and that was all the response he received, but at least it was something.

Working at a slow gentle pace, after about 10 minutes he had managed to get the majority of dried blood off the pale skin but somehow his boyfriends face looked even worse now. Maybe, he thought, because he knew that the rest of the marks would not wash away, the rest was engraved in his skin.

He wished that he could be done, that he could tuck Kurt up in bed with him and they would both just sleep and put this behind them. Unfortunately he knew that there was much more still to tend to but he was terrified to remove the boy's shirt.

Taking a deep breath he peeled back the blanket.

"Kurt, I'm just going to lift you up a bit to get your shirt off okay?" He didn't wait for an answer; just put his hand on the centre of Kurt's back and gently pushed him into a seated position, supporting his body with an arm around his shoulders.

He looked down and gasped in horror. His stomach tightened and he felt sick.

The arm of the sofa where Kurt's head had just been resting was soaked, dear god _soaked,_ in deep crimson blood. His grip on Kurt wavered but he caught himself before he could allow his boyfriend to fall backwards.

Balancing the countertenor against his forearm he examined the back of his head, afraid of what he was seeing. There was a thick stream of blood trailing down the back of Kurt's neck, leaking from a frighteningly large gash in his scalp.

"Shit…Kurt, baby, we have to go to the hospital." He was already easing Kurt into a more comfortable position whilst he moved around the room trying to locate his keys.

"No…no it's ok." When he turned around to protest he saw with dread that Kurt was already on his feet desperately trying to look fine. There was panic in his eyes but also disorientation and pain. Blaine was still a couple of feet away when Kurt crumpled to the floor, head just inches from the coffee table.

"KURT!" Blaine cried, skidding to a halt by the fallen boy and placing a hand in the middle of Kurt's back shaking him.

When a strangled groan was his only response, Blaine jumped into action. Finally, _finally,_ locating his keys on the kitchen table he all but ran over to Kurt, swinging him up into his arms once more and heading outside.

He reached the car faster than he'd ever done anything in his life and gently lowered Kurt onto the passenger seat, fastening the seat belt before basically scrambling to the driver's side.

He had the keys in the ignition and the engine started before he'd even closed the door and he silently thanked his previous distraction that the gates had been left open.

Kurt was groaning and whimpering, his body shook with shallow pained convulsions and his breaths were coming out in short, panicked jolts. It brought more tears to Blaine's eyes.

"It's ok Kurt, you'll be ok." He whispered into the air as he pulled out of the driveway. Praying to anyone who would listen that it was the truth.

* * *

So yes, annoyingly short. Sorry. But I have all of tomorrow…today off and I hope to bring you part 2 by tomorrow night.

by the by; one of you lovely readers are now both a tumblrer and Facebook friend of mine… MY FIC IS LEGIT DUDES. I'd love to see more of you heading on over ;)  
seriously, i love new people. :)

Ok, i'll go write some more...please review!


	6. Chapter 6

BAM! i left out a little bit at the end...if you had noticed then i fixed it, if not then... pay more attention! anyway it should be a bit better now.

Thanks for accepting the short chapter and as I said here's another update a day early. This is pretty short too but if you put it together with 5 then maybe it won't matter… ^_^

not much to say besides what is the end A/N so go for it and read :)

chapter 6.

* * *

Blaine felt cold. Both mentally and physically. He had been in the waiting room for the better part of an hour now and all he wanted was some information on Kurt. The boy had been whisked straight out of his arms the second he had burst into the ER and the nurses had disappeared through the double doors leaving Blaine alone in the waiting room where he proceeded to collapse onto his knees trying to process what had just happened.

_Today is shit._ Blaine thought desperately. First the incident with Karofsky…and now this? Why did the world always seem to be so completely against Kurt?

Eventually someone had picked Blaine up off the floor, possibly out of compassion, more likely to allow people to get through the door his body was effectively blocking. He found himself sinking into one of the uncomfortable grey chair that surrounded the room, not caring that the position made his back ache and his feet sting. How could he worry about himself when Kurt was on the other side of those doors bleeding?

Kurt's blood was staining his hands and he felt as if it was burning right through his skin. He itched to find a bathroom and scrub it off until it was like this never happened but he couldn't bring himself to stand, so he just sat there staring at the floor until the time when someone finally came to talk to him.

30 minutes after he had brought Kurt in, a young blonde nurse came strolling over to him. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and knelt down to look him dead in the eye.

"Are you the one who brought that boy in?" at his nod she continued. "Okay, do you have a phone number for any of his family? We need to let them know."

He stared blankly. _Damn, how could I forget Burt? Kurt should have been home hours ago. Did Kurt even have his phone? Wait…do I have his number? _

"I… I never had a chance to get his dads number."

"It's ok sweetie, just give me his name and I'll see if he's on the system."

"Kurt…his names Kurt Hummel." He sighed and put his head in his hands. "Can I see him?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, the doctor is with him and it'll be family only at the moment." He noted that she genuinely looked sympathetic and didn't have the energy to fight her. He really wanted to see Kurt but he knew that the nurse meant well by keeping him out.

Blaine didn't even realise that the nurse had left until a cardboard cup filled with steaming coffee appeared under his nose. He took it with both hands mumbling a brief thank you and then she was sitting beside him.

She put her hand on his knee gently.

"His dad was in here not long ago so the number is on our file. We're going to call him in a minute; can I just take your name so that we can tell him who brought Kurt in?"

"Blaine… I'm his boyfriend." He spoke quietly, waiting for the persecution but the nurse just smiled and nodded, giving his knee a couple of pats before heading back over to the office.

* * *

He didn't know how much time passed after that but suddenly Burt, Carol and Finn stormed through the main doors. The two elders headed straight for the reception desk, Burt gestured wildly with his arms shouting some unintelligible madness while Carol tried in vain to calm him, The nurse from earlier was at their side quickly, leading Burt by the arm through the double door and they all disappeared into the corridor.

Finn on the other hand had diverted to where Blaine was sitting, coffee cup still gripped tightly in his fist still basically full save for a couple of nervous sips and the liquid was now stone cold.

"What the hell happened dude?" Finn asked, slumping down into the seat next to Blaine.

"I…" He tried to answer, _really_ he did, but he realised then that he still had no idea what had happened. Kurt had obviously been attacked but he didn't even know where or why or by whom. "I don't know Finn… He dropped me off after Glee club and I thought he must have left but then an hour later he was buzzing the intercom and when I went out to see him he was…limping and bleeding. I tried to clean him up but his head…it was bleeding so much. I had to bring him here." He was rambling now, his voice breaking as he was forced to process how mad it had been.

Finn was silent.

He wanted to ask who or why but he could tell from the look on Blaine's face that he wouldn't be able to answer. The only person who could was Kurt.

"Are you going to go in and see him?" Blaine asked with tears in his eyes.

"Mom and Burt will be okay for a while. I'll stay here." He put a hand hesitantly on Blaine's shoulder but kept his eyes straight ahead. The shorter boy felt like crying at the gesture and he felt glad that Kurt had his step-brother in his life. Despite all that had happened between them in the past, Finn really was a great guy at heart.

They sat in silence for a while, watching all the people come and go. Nurses going back and forth with wheelchairs, leading patients by the arm, helping people out to the exit. Everything was just a blur for Blaine; he so desperately wanted Burt and Carol to come through the doors telling him everything was fine but they didn't, he convinced himself that it was because they were talking to Kurt. This would mean he was fine.

"Blaine…do you think he'll be okay?" Finn finally whispered and when Blaine turned to face him he could see the tear tracks running down his face and realised that Finn must have been silently crying this whole time. "It's just…when the nurse called, it sounded really bad. And mom and Burt were panicking and we cut the journey time in half getting here because Burt was so worried." Finns voice cracked at the end and Blaine couldn't resist turning towards the jock and pulling him into a tight hug. It was more contact than they'd ever shared but Blaine couldn't stand the look on his face.

"It looked bad, Finn I'm not gonna lie." Finn whimpered but Blaine pressed on, "But this is Kurt we're talking about…he has so much strength, so much willpower, he wouldn't let something like this keep him down. He's going to be alright Finn." He pulled away, his gaze drifting to the double doors at the opposite end of the waiting room.

_I hope._

* * *

It had now been close to 3 hours since Blaine had staggered in with Kurt in his arms. All Blaine wanted was information on his boyfriend but, any time he tried to catch a nurse or doctor on their way past, all he received were short responses like _the doctor Is with him _or _We'll let you know if we get any news. _A couple of nurses had said that they would go to find out but they never came back.

Both Finn and Blaine were feeling sick with nerves by the time Carol finally, _finally _came through the doors and Blaine's heart skipped a beat at the gentle smile on her face. Both boys jumped up, crossing the linoleum floor in no more than 5 strides.

"How is he?" they both asked together, Blaine glanced through the tiny windows in the door trying to see if Kurt was in view down the corridor.

"The doctor says he's going to be fine." She spoke gently, receiving two relieved sighs in return. "He's pretty bashed up but they've stitched up his head and cleaned all his wounds. They want to keep him over night but they think he'll be fine to go home tomorrow."

As happy, scratch that, how _ecstatic_ he was to hear that Kurt was going to be ok he couldn't be completely sure until he'd seen for himself.

"Can we…" he trailed off but used his short glances over Carols shoulder to show what he wanted.

"The doctor put him out not long ago so he's sleeping but I guess you can come and see him." She knew how much this boy loved her step son and she couldn't be cruel enough to keep him away in this situation. He had saved Kurt, hands down and he deserved to see the injured boy.

They walked silently down the hallway, the sterile smell and harsh florescent lighting made Blaine feel ill, he always tried to stay away from hospitals. There's something about walking though corridors where every few feet someone could be dying that made Blaine want to turn and run. But he was here for Kurt so he had to fight the urge as they passed bloodied sheets and crying families.

Burt was stood outside the door, a hand lifted to his mouth and his arm crossed over his chest as he nodded along to whatever the young doctor was saying.

"Thank you." He sighed and the doctor nodded once before disappearing into another side room.

Carol strode over to her husband; pulling him into a tight hug, she clicked the door handle and nudged the door open for Blaine and Finn.

Since Blaine had seen Kurt before he had been cleaned up he thought that this would be easier than it was for Finn but that thought went straight out of the window when Kurt came into his line of vision.

The bruises had by now had time to blossom and stuck out painfully dark on Kurt's snow pale skin. He was wearing a flimsy hospital gown and had shiny silvery sheets tucked around him which Blaine recognised as warming blankets. One hand was resting on his chest, an IV line sticking out of his skin making the vein stand out and Blaine cringed as he could almost _see_ the liquid dripping into Kurt's bloodstream. The cut on his cheek had swollen substantially and was bruising around the edge, the mark blending in with the one that adorned his left eye; thus making the whole left side of Kurt's face a mass of discoloration.

Blaine's knees buckled and he was grateful that Carol had chosen that point to return to the room. She wrapped an arm around his waist and guided him to one of the plastic chairs that had been pulled up close to the bed.

Blaine's hand immediately drifted to Kurt's head, running his fingers gently over the thick bandages that were wrapped delicately around there.

He vaguely registered Finns cry of "I can't…" and footsteps disappearing into the hallway.

Carol linked her arm with Burt's and tugged him gently towards the door.

"Come on, let's give him a minute." Blaine silently thanked her as the couple left, shutting the door with a soft click behind them and Blaine was alone with his boyfriend.

They hadn't even been gone a few seconds when the dam broke and Blaine was weeping. No, _sobbing._ That's a better way of putting it. All the worry and anxiety from the last few hours caught up to him and his chest was heaving as his torso collapsed onto the bed.

"Oh Kurt…" He cried. "I was so _scared._ So scared, Kurt. When I saw you…and you were," He paused; taking the best breath he could manage, "you were _bleeding_ and blue and I didn't know what had happened…God I still don't. If you can hear me can you wake up? I know they just put you out and you need your rest but I just need to know you… I need to know you really _are_ ok. Because I still feel like they've lied to me, like you aren't going to be fine like they say. Please, please just let me know you're okay Kurt, please baby." He babbled it all out in one breath, shaking as he struggled to draw in air through his tears.

He choked up again when there was no response from the injured boy.

He exhaled shakily and crossed his arms on the edge of the bed leaning his head down to rest on them.

"Please, please, please…" He whispered over and over, eventually losing his focus and the words just kept coming without him consciously allowing them to.

The mantra was interrupted when a cold touch shocked Blaine into looking up. Kurt had the hand without the IV resting on Blaine's own and his eyes were open, half lidded and drowsy but open.

"Baby…" he whispered, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Hi." Kurt croaked and winced as a succession of rough coughs followed.

Blaine reached over to the side table and picked up the blue plastic jug that sat there and poured a small amount of water into a cup, popping a straw in too. He lifted the straw to Kurt's mouth and the injured boy drank a couple of small gulps giving off a sated sigh as the cool liquid soothed his burning throat.

"Thank you." He breathed and Blaine rubbed his thumb over the back of Kurt's hand as they returned to silence.

"I'm really glad you're okay Kurt." He whispered after a moment.

"I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't get far before..." Kurt trailed off, his shoulders rising and falling as he tried desperately not to start crying.

Blaine hesitated slightly before giving Kurt's hand a small squeeze and catching his boyfriends' eye.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked, head tilted to the side with concern.

Kurt immediately broke the eye contact, turning to face window and pulling his hand away from the dapper boy.

"I...I can't" He hated how much his voice cracked. He couldn't look at Blaine, couldn't let his boyfriend see him being so weak.

Kurt lost his battle with the tears as he retreated to the past.

_A well placed kick to his ribs and he was sent hurling to the ground; his head contacting painfully with the tarmac, sending a sickening crack echoing through the air._

A single tear slipped down his cheeks which he quickly raised a hand to brush away in embarrassment.

_A rough hand on his collar holding him in place as a fist repeatedly smashed into the side of his face, a sharp jolt of pain ripped through his head as Karofsky's class ring connected with his cheek. _

Too many tears were flowing down his face now for Kurt to attempt to hide them. Blaine was fussing around him whispering comforting words into his ear.

He could feel the drugs pulling him back under and he turned half lidded eyes to his boyfriend hoping he would get the point.

"Ok baby, you get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning. I love you." He whispered the last bit as he saw Kurt's eyes closing and his face relaxing.

Blaine leaned back in his chair and closed his own eyes, groaning quietly.

_God today sucks._

* * *

Yay chapter 6 done and dusted.  
By the By - shiny silvery sheets, try saying that 5 times fast.

As always review if you can. And thank you so much to everyone who has already done so and Alerted/Favourited this story. I honestly can't express how much it means to me.


	7. Chapter 7

So yes. Read the A/N at the end again.

Straight into chapter 7.

* * *

Blaine had gone home shortly after Kurt had gone back to sleep. He had been conversing quietly with Carole and Finn outside the boys' room, Burt having returned to his sons' side, when his phone had rung.

Blaine had honestly forgotten that his parent were due home from work. They had called in a panic; finding a blood soaked sofa when you get home from work is not something that's easy for a parent to handle. When Blaine had answered the call he'd immediately had to calm his Moms anxious screech, when all Blaine could hear was her breathing out _he's alive_ over and over, his Dad took over.

They had been expecting no reply; they had been prepared for their sons phone to be answered by a nurse or a police officer, they had been prepared for the worst. They were unprepared however for Blaine to tell them that while _he_ was fine, he was at the Lima hospitals ER with Kurt and had been since about 7pm.

They promptly announced to him that they would be there soon to collect him; he insisted that he'd brought his car and he'd just drive it home but they knew how unsteady their son became when upset, and asserted that it would be safer for everyone if he just let them collect him. Minutes later when he was staring at his hands he was glad that his parents knew him so well. The afore mentioned appendages had a fine tremor running through them and, he discovered when he attempted to pick up the pen for the sign in sheet, were lacking a sufficient ability to grip.

Carole had fully understood when Blaine announced that he needed to get home and she promised to call him in the morning or if anything changed. She held him in a tight hug for a while, both just basking in the comfort of being held.

He headed out to the parking lot to await his parents' arrival but didn't even make it to the front door before he was tackled sideways.

"Mom!" he cried. Gripping her tightly and looking to his Dad with alarm in his eyes.

"Blaine, don't mind your mother, we're just happy that you're ok."

"There was so much _blood_ on the sofa Blaine. We had no idea what had happened. We were expecting the worst." His mother released him, wiping a stray tear off her cheek.

"I'm sorry Mom; I didn't even think about that when it happened. I mean the second _I_ saw it, it was just huge panic. I drove him straight here,"

"It's ok son," His father said and placed a hand on Blaine's back, the touch bringing with it the comfort Blaine had subconsciously craved all evening. His muscles relaxed and he felt a sense of calm come over him. "Is he ok?"

"They're keeping him overnight, he has a slight concussion, cracked ribs, broken collarbone and bruises _everywhere._ But the doctor says he's going to be fine." He felt wetness in his eyes and lifted his gaze to the ceiling hoping to keep his strong facade going just a little longer.

He still felt like breaking down even after the incident by Kurt's bedside. In all honesty, he just wanted to curl up in his bed and sob, but he knew that his parents would want more details before he could get away.

The ride home had been quiet, Blaine sat in the back; his arms folded across his chest and his knees brought up as far as he could. His parents had made the odd comment about the air con, asking if it was warm enough or cool enough for him; but otherwise had stayed silent. Blaine was thankful; if he was going to break he wanted to do it at home, not speeding down the highway.

When they got home, break was just what Blaine did.

They were barely through the front door when the blood caught Blaine's eye. Earlier when he had been fussing around his boyfriend he hadn't noticed the trail of blood that Kurt had left after himself. There was a crusted brown smear on one of the walls where Kurt had used his hand to steady himself. One sided footprints trailed through the foyer and into the lounge prompting Blaine to remember the gouge in Kurt's knee that must have been leaking blood all the way to his shoes.

Blaine couldn't even begin to imagine how his parents had felt when they'd come through the front door to _this_. He felt so sorry that he hadn't noticed and tried to clean up a little or something. Anything. But at the time getting Kurt help was all he wanted, all he had throught about.

There was a slight pang of guilt in his chest when he realised he hadn't considered his parents at all until they had phoned.

As they headed for the stairs, his Mom tried to steer him past the lounge without allowing his gaze to drift to the furniture but...no luck.

His eyes subconsciously focused on the sofa. The blood soaked arm. That was when he gave in. His knees trembled, his lip quivered and suddenly he was in his Moms arms on the floor while sobs tore from his chest, even stronger than they had before.

Kurt had been _bleeding _in that room, on that sofa. Meer hours ago Blaines boyfriend had been _bleeding._ He barely even recalled wiping the blood from Kurt's face or holding his hand in the car in an attempt to sooth his pain.

He pulled his hands away from his face and realised with a disgusted grimace that Kurt's blood was still dried on his hands, crusted under his fingernails. He felt the earlier urge to run away and scrub his hands raw until every cell of the dusty red substance was eliminated, but his mother grip on his was too tight and, if he was being honest, he didn't want to leave her grasp just yet.

His Dads hand was on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze every few seconds in the most comforting gesture he could muster. Blaine knew that his father wasn't exactly brilliant with that 'emotional crap,' it had caused many a row in the Anderson household, so just having the touch there meant so much.

Eventually Blaine's parents had managed to get him to his feet and he had been led upstairs to his room. Through the fuzz in his head he heard vague phrases exchanged between his parents. Something about 'have the sofa burned,' and 'call Carole, see if there's anything we can do.'

Then his Moms' soft hands were on his and a damp cloth was being gently brushed against his skin. Blaine sighed with content at the thought of his boyfriend blood finally being washed away. Of course it didn't erase what had happened but it made Blaine feel just a little better.

Then he felt despair in his chest as he reminded himself that he shouldn't be feeling such relief when Kurt was lying injured in a goddamn hospital bed.

He was lulled to sleep after an hour or so to the soft, calming hum coming from his mothers lips. A tune he knew well from his childhood, when he was ill or hurt he would always sit with his Mom as she rocked him and sang.

It was where Blaine's love of music had first begun.

* * *

When Blaine awoke at first he was blissfully unaware of the night before. His mind was still dulled from the sleep and his traumatic existence and he lay for a minute in the silence. He picked up his phone from the nightstand to check the time and winced as the light it gave off burned into his retinas.

It was seeing the picture of he and Kurt on his background that finally made the memories click into place like a demented jigsaw puzzle.

The blood

The bruises

The hospital

His mother wiping the blood from his hands as she sang him to sleep.

He sat up with the phone in his hands, checking for anything he'd missed.

There were no missed calls or texts so Blaine guessed that nothing more had happened in the night, for which he was extremely grateful.

As he swung his legs over the side of the bed to get out, he realised he was still wearing the clothes he had been wearing the night before and curled his nose in disgust. Peeling off his t-shirt and jeans, he strolled slowly to the closet, pulling out a plain black tee and rooting through his draws for a pair of sweatpants. He silently imagined the look on Kurt's face if he ever saw such an outfit, the thought bringing a small smile to his face.

His parents were already in the kitchen when Blaine emerged.

His Dad was sitting at the breakfast table with a paper balanced in one hand and a coffee mug in the other, and his Mom was leaning over the stove with a grill pan in her hand. As Blaine entered she casually flipped a pancake over in the pan and put it back on the hob.

Oh no. Blaine thought idly. Moms making pancakes.

The last time Blaine could remember her mother making pancakes was the day he had announced he wanted to move schools.

It had been a pretty normal day at school, he had the normal jeers and taunts. The odd spit-balling, the usual. It had happened after gym when Blaine was heading out for lunch, his main bullies had grabbed his bag off his shoulder and threw all his things into trees and various dumpsters before Blaine's biggest tormenter Jaden Lewis had picked him up and, with one swing of him broad arms, hurled the much shorter boy into the river at the back of school. The bullies and onlookers had laughed for a while whilst Blaine had been left spluttering and choking on the water flooding his mouth and lungs.

Once they had left, Blaine had dragged himself to the bus stop and called his Dad in floods of tears telling him he needed to go home.

When he had got home at last, sodden and exhausted, his Mom had been making pancakes.

It wasn't that his Mom couldn't cook it was just that, with both parents working all hours of the day and night, the two adults tended to eat in restaurants on their way back. The housekeeper Rosie always made sure Blaine had whatever he needed, so there really was no reason for his Mom to go to any trouble.

Blaine slid down into the seat opposite his Dad and immediately had a steaming cup of coffee shoved placed in front of him along with a small stack of pancakes.

"Thanks Mom." Blaine said politely, giving his Mom a small smile.

He picked up his fork and picked at the edge of his breakfast but he found that, despite it looking delicious, he didn't really feel like eating.

"I just got off the phone with Carole." His Mom was now sitting beside him, she reached over and pulled the plate away from her son but nudged the coffee cup forwards, to which he gave her a grateful smile and lifted the cup with both hands and took a sip, the caffeine going straight to his head waking him up immediately.

"How is he?" Blaine asked quietly from behind the cup.

"He had a rough night. Apparently he was up a few times with nightmares and had to be sedated once, poor dear." She shook her head slightly with dismay. "The doctor's decided to keep him in another night, maybe more since they're worried about the damage he could do to his stitches if he has a terror at home and hasn't got doctors around to calm him."

Blaine had tears in his eyes again, _my poor baby_ he thought, part of him suddenly wishing more than anything else that he had stayed there with his boyfriend but, another part of him knew that he wouldn't have been able to help even if he had been there. _This is such a goddamn awful situation._

"Carole spoke to Mercedes too, Kurt had asked for her to be told. They think it'd be a good idea if they organised a meet up for your glee club to all go to the hospital to try and cheer him up a bit, he's pretty upset about being in there" _Understandable_ Blaine thought and his Mom could read the look on his face. "Not just because of the situation. Burt says it reminds him too much of his Moms last few days."

All three were silent for a minute.

None of them had ever really lost anyone before (both of Blaine's gran's and grandpas were still alive) and they couldn't imagine sitting at a hospital bedside for hours on end waiting for the inevitable death of someone they loved.

Blaine's Dad finally broke the hush.

"I'll drop you off at the hospital on my way to work if you like?" Blaine grinned at his Dad. He loved having such understanding parents.

"Thanks Dad..." he paused. "And you, Mom. Really, thank you." Swiftly his Moms hand was covering his, giving it a reassuring squeeze, which was all they needed. No words required.

And that was Blaine's family. Sometimes they didn't need words.

* * *

True to his word, after breakfast his Dad had taken the hour long detour to the other side of town and had even escorted Blaine in once they reached the hospital.

They had been surprised to see Carole waiting by the reception when they arrived.

"Blaine." She smiled as she pulled him into a tight hug.

"Morning Carole." He purposely left off the 'good' that normally went at the beginning of that phrase. There was nothing 'good' about this situation.

Blaine's Dad reached his hand out to the woman who took it eagerly and gave it one firm shake.

"I'm Brian, Blaine's Dad."

"Carole."

"I have to get to work," Brian said hesitantly. He put a hand on Blaine's shoulder and patted it once, "Give Kurt my best yeah? I'll see you later son."

Blaine smiled and nodded, watching his father walk out of the door.

"Kurt was moved in the night, he's on a ward now." _That's why she had to come and get me then._ He thought idly.

He followed Carole through the winding corridors that spread throughout the hospital. They passed Cancer wards, Intensive care and a couple of OR's, all with relatives hanging around looking helpless. Some with stoic faces who were so obviously trying their best to hold in everything they were feeling, some who couldn't manage it and were full out sobbing onto the shoulders of others.

Every single one making Blaine that little bit happier that Kurt wasn't anywhere near this atmosphere.

The Children ward was on the other side of the hospital, through a set of double doors, over the courtyard and through another set of double doors, these ones painted baby blue and the entrance hall was painted with little cartoon balloons and doodles that had obviously been painted by past and present patients.

They passed through a few wards with lots of little children tucked up in beds that made them look as small as babies. It broke Blaine's heart to see the suffering that went on with little people who, at that age, should be running around the park, carefree and loving life.

The teenagers ward was at the very far end. Past numerous nurses stations which, when they strode past there was always one nurse who waved at Carole. It only took one night,

Carole passed through the main doors before Blaine and he heard her call out, "Kurt!" and he could hear the smile.

The voice that floated back was like music to Blaine's ears.

"Hey Carole." Blaine turned the corner just as the words were spoken. It was so good to hear Kurt sounding more like... well more like Kurt. Drowsy and slightly slurred but still, unmistakably Kurt.

His boyfriend was sitting, propped up by a mountain of pillows, his fingers idly turning the pages of a magazine. Mercedes was sitting on the end, her legs dangling off swinging back and forth, she had one hand on the magazine and was obviously making some comments about someones attrociaous attire going by her facial expressions. They both looked up as Carole and Blaine entered.

As Kurt did, Blaine let out a breath he didn't knew he had been holding whilst taking in his boyfriends appearance.

There was a bandage stuck to the side of Kurt's face, deep purple and black bruising sticking out of the edges. His arms, now on show sticking out of the thin hospital gown, were mottled with varying degrees of bruising as was his exposed collarbone. His left arm was in a sling and he looked so washed out...so not Kurt.

But when Blaine got closer and looked at his properly...like _really looked, _he could see the sparkle in Kurt's beautiful blue eyes that he hadn't seen the night before. And that alone sent his heart fluttering and made him look past all the rest.

"Honey, where's your Dad?" Carole asked softly.

"Oh, he went to get some coffee or something, he wanted a break from mine and 'Cedes girl talk." He smiled and Blaine swore that smile was the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life.

Carole laughed and pushed open the side door by the bed announcing that she'd go find him and keep him company.

Blaine approached slowly and cautiously, he wasn't sure why he suddenly felt very nervous about being with Kurt but he did.

But Kurt, _god I love him,_ Kurt patted the sheets next to him and shuffled over with a slight wince.

"Hi baby." Blaine whispered, leaning in closer to Kurt and putting an arm gently around Kurt's waist, trying his best not to aggravate his boyfriends' broken ribs. If he _had_ hurt him at all it didn't show. Blaine wondered whether that was just something he had learnt from all those years of bullying, the thought made Blaine extremely sad.

"Hi." Kurt was staring at him and Blaine shot a confused glance to Mercedes but she also seemed to be staring at him with an eyebrow raised and a 'helltotheno' look in her eyes.

Being in the spotlight like this was uncomfortable and Blaine shifted in his seat nervously.

"Yes?"

"Blaine..." Kurt started quietly. _Oh no_ Blaine thought desperately, _what have I done?_

"Are those sweatpants?"

* * *

Ohh good old Kurt, isn't it good to know we can count on him and his fashion even at a time like this.

And BAM we have Mercedes. yeah not much but she's there. We'll get alot more drama and confrontations next chapter and also a visit from the New Directions :)

I don't know why but I REALLY got into writing this chapter and it WAS going to continue past where I chose to end it but I wrote that line and I really didn't want to continue it because that seemed like such a good place to end it. Sorry about the extra wait but I had a harsh reminder that school work still has to be done :/


	8. Chapter 8

Supermegafoxyawesomehot7 – I honestly loved your review. It made me smile so much. And my tumblr followers know that now too.

To the others who have reviewed just know that, even though I don't respond to all of them, I really _really _appreciate every single one. And to those who have me on alert and favourite thank you so much. If you could spare a minute to let me know what you think that'd be wonderful, I always love to find out what people are thinking.

Hesitant for this one but here...Chapter 8.

* * *

Mercedes smiled along with Blaine as he laughed at Kurt being...Kurt.

He was so very glad to see that that...spark...had not been killed by the vicious attack.

The girl stood up from the bed and moved to the chair next to the bed, allowing Blaine to take her place, grasping Kurt's hand and entwining their fingers immediately.

"I wasn't really paying attention this morning; these were the first thing that found their way into my hands." He smiled.

"Blaine...you shouldn't even own them in the first place." He said it in a tone that implied that Blaine _really_ should already know it. "When I get out of here...I'm sorting you out." He paused, the smile fading from his face. "Which might be a while yet." He finished sadly.

"So you had a bad night baby?" he squeezed Kurt's hand affectionately.

"So I hear." At Blaine's confused look he shrugged. "I don't really remember. I can vaguely recall a needle being jabbed through my skin though." He shuddered.

"Poor baby," Blaine resisted the urge to pull his boyfriend into his arms knowing that it would cause him so much pain. From where he was sitting Blaine couldn't see an inch of skin, besides the right side of his face, that wasn't mottled black and blue.

"Have you told them what-" he was cut off by a sharp shake of the head from Kurt.

This worried Blaine, he hadn't been able to tell anyone the night before which...really, made sense after the trauma he had been through but Blaine knew that Kurt _had_ to talk about it before he forgot any details.

"He won't talk to me or Finn, he won't even tell his dad." Mercedes spoke from her chair, casting a fleeting look at her best friend who just shrugged in response.

"I don't _want_ to talk about it...ever." He held up his one good hand to cut off the protest from his boyfriend.

"No, Blaine," He said firmly, "what's done is done and I'm not starting a battle I _know_ I'll lose." Blaine looked like he was going to object again so Kurt fixed him with a don't-mess-with-me-I'm-a-bamf look. "End of story Blaine."

And that was that.

They flicked through magazines, chatted outfits and music and the current situation was put on the back shelf.

Not much later the nurse brought lunch in, one for Kurt – which he barely attempted to eat, much to Blaine's dismay – and an extra sandwich for Mercedes and Blaine that she had snuck out of the kitchen.

A few times Kurt's mind would drift off. Blaine and Mercedes would watch as his eyes glazed and he lost focus on whatever they had been talking about. One time, when they had been talking about some fashion faux-pas in the new vogue Kurt had stopped mid insult. No warning, he just suddenly stopped talking, his eyes going distant and his mouth hanging open like a gormless fish.

Blaine and Mercedes just turned to each other, carrying on the conversation like nothing was happening to save Kurt the embarrassment when he finally came back to himself. This time was different though, after 2 minutes he was still distant and the two friends shared a concerned look.

It was when he started shaking his head and his head started coming out in short gasps that Blaine finally figured out something wasn't right.

Blaine tentatively placed a hand over Kurt's but pulled back sharply when the boy shook him head harder and started whispering..._pleading_... 'Stop, stop, no...Please...stop' over and over. Mercedes left her seat immediately and was running off down and out of the ward shouting for a doctor.

To Blaine's horror Kurt began to thrash wildly, as if fighting off an invisible opponent and he was whimpering with fear. Blaine was looking him dead in the eye but he could tell that Kurt wasn't seeing him; he was seeing his attacker...whoever that had been.

Blaine could now see why the doctors were keeping him in, with a cry the IV line dislodged, flinging a smattering of blood over the bed sheets as it ripped out of Kurt's skin. The tube hung uselessly from the stand, dripping the clear fluid into a puddle on the linoleum floor.

"No...Karofsky...please...no" Blaine stopped dead. _Karofsky? _

The doctor came in then, Mercedes following behind, pulling him away from Kurt as the nurse approached with a large hypodermic needle.

He watched, disturbed, as the needle was poked through the bruised skin of Kurt's arm and the plunger thrust the clear liquid into his veins. Kurt's thrashing slowed until he was lying limp against the pillows.

The doctor strode over to where the two were standing while, behind him, a couple of young nurses were gently manhandling Kurt back under the sheets and re-inserting the IV.

"Do you know what triggered the panic attack?" He asked calmly.

Mercedes put a hand on Blaine's arm signalling that she would try to explain to save him the task, he was grateful...he didn't think he could speak right then.

"We really don't know," Mercedes sighed. "He's been...distant all day. He just stopped talking and...Well started panicking."

"Okay, well we've sedated him for now, you're welcome to stay but just know that he'll most likely be out for a few hours." He nodded to them both and passed between them, followed by a nurse with Kurt's bloodied sheets in her arms.

Blaine stared after them until a few seconds after they had left his sights. When he turned around again Mercedes was sat back at Kurt's bedside with his hand in hers.

"He said Karofsky." He mumbled as he approached.

"What?"

"Karofsky..." He repeated louder. "He was begging... begging for Karofsky to stop. He did this."

Mercedes turned away in disgust, stroking Kurt's pale skin with her thumb and there were tears in her eyes.

"I never... I never thought..." She couldn't continue, the tears spilled over, rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto the newly changed sheets.

"He never told you." It wasn't a question. Blaine could tell that Mercedes had never heard why Kurt was going to transfer. Hell, Kurt probably never even told her that he was considering it.

"Never told me what?" Her voice was quiet and Blaine could feel the fear in it.

"If I hadn't transferred... Kurt would have. To Dalton. Karofsky threatened to kill him Mercedes.

It was silent.

Mercedes didn't know what to say.

She looked to Blaine, back to Kurt and then just stared forward, her mouth moving with words she couldn't get out.

She knew it had been bad, they all knew something was different with Kurt's situation but...

_Kill him. _

She never thought Karofsky would go that far, he was a school bully...a _bully,_ not a murderer. But looking at Kurt now, his bruises, cuts, broken bones, she realised she was wrong.

_Someone's going down._

* * *

It was just after dinner, Kurt was settled between Blaine legs on the bad; his back resting against his boyfriend's chest and his hand locked with Blaine's, fingers entwined. Every now and again Blaine would give Kurt's hand a gentle squeeze, reminding the countertenor that his boyfriend was there, always anchoring him to reality.

Mercedes had a magazine on her lap, fingers flicking idly through it but was unable to focus properly with the beautiful display of affection happening across from her.

A knock on the door broke through their content silence and Mercedes stood up, giving Blaine a knowing smile.

Blaine gave Kurt a small nudge and the injured boy opened his eyes; turning round carefully to give his boyfriend a questioning look.

Blaine just responded by nodding his head after Mercedes and turning his gaze to the door.

Kurt tiredly followed his line of vision, leaning his head back against Blaine's throat as the door opened and the entire Glee Club entered and circled his bed.

His eyes widened in shock and his mouth opened and closed, trying to form words but nothing was coming out.

Rachel laughed and stepped forward; taking the liberty of making the speech.

"We know that you don't like hospitals. So when we heard that you were in here we knew we had to come see you. Then Finn told us that they were keeping you in for a couple more days and decided that we should all come and support you. The only way we know how." She stepped back and Artie fiddled with the IPod dock on his lap.

A Second later the first bars of music were flowing out and Kurt smiled as he recognised the melody.

When the New Directions began to sing the lyrics, Kurt was surprised to find that there was no lead, they all sang together. This made Kurt smile even more, it was perfect unity.

It was beautiful.

_When the day is long and the night,  
the night is yours alone, __  
__when you're sure you've had enough of this life,  
well hang on_

They all stood together and swayed gently with the music.

_Don't let yourself go,  
'cause everybody cries  
and everybody hurts sometimes_

_sometimes everything is wrong.  
Now it's time to sing along__  
__When your day is night alone,__  
__If you feel like letting go, __  
__When you think you've had too much of this life,  
well hang on__  
_

Blaine tightened his grip on Kurt as he felt his boyfriend shaking with suppressed tears.

_'Cause everybody hurts.  
Take comfort in your friends__  
__Everybody hurts.  
Don't throw your hand. Oh, no.  
Don't throw your hand__  
__If you feel like you're alone, no, no, no,  
you are not alone_

_If you're on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,__  
__When you think you've had too much of this life to hang on_

_Well, everybody hurts sometimes,__  
__Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes__  
__And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on__  
__Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on__  
__Everybody hurts. You are not alone_

By the time the final bars of music were playing, everyone was around Kurt, either perched on the edge of the bed or standing behind.

They were silent for a minute afterwards.

Blaine gave Kurt's hand a reassuring squeeze and that broke the dam.

Tears began to stream down the countertenors face and he gasped out his feelings as best he could; hoping that they would make some semblance of a sentence.

"You… I can't… that was…." He paused for a second, glancing around at everyone making sure not to miss a single person. "Thank you" he finished, another tear rolling down his cheek.

Mercedes leaned forward; raising a hand to wipe away the damp trail.

She winced a little when Kurt flinched away from the touch but she didn't move away, simply placed her hand flat against the side of Kurt's face that wasn't bruised, stroking away the tear with her thumb.

Kurt suddenly began to laugh, not hysterically or anything, just a slight giggle that caught the attention for everyone around him.

They gazed at him in confusion, a smile tugging at the corners of a few mouths as the sound of Kurt's chuckle was infectious.

"The _only_ way you know how? Really?"

They laughed with him and somehow the room suddenly looked brighter to Kurt, as if the sadness that had been tingeing his eyes with grey had lifted slightly.

He could deal with all of this, as long as he had them.

* * *

Wow. This kind of sounds like an ending doesn't it…  
I don't know… I don't know why but when I was writing this I kind of felt like this was the end.

It's not though… there's still some stuff I have to write.

Silly me.

Song is Everybody Hurts by R.E.M if you didn't already know. It took me ages to find the right song for this.

Anyway review if you can x


	9. Chapter 9

Short chapter. Just started writing this today and thought I'd just post it as it is.

Chapter 9.

* * *

3 days into Kurt's stay in hospital, or 'forced captivity' as the countertenor liked to call it, Blaine decided that he couldn't keep it a secret any longer that he knew about Karofsky.

He had given Kurt this much time because he knew that he needed some space to get his _own_ head around what had happened before he could even attempt to tell anyone else.

But even now he was completely refusing to talk about it, even to his closest friends.

Kurt had made his mind up that there was no point in telling anyone and Blaine could understand the feeling, he himself hadn't reported his bullies.

But this was _so_ _much_ more serious.

This had been- still could be, life and death.

So, as he entered the teens ward on the 3rd day, he made up his mind that he _had _to confront Kurt about it. He cared way too much about his boyfriend to just let this slide.

Eventually Kurt would have to go to back to school and, if Karofsky hadn't been dealt with, there was no guarantee that something like this wouldn't happen again.

As usual, Kurt was sitting up in bed, his arm still in a sling and the bruises, if it was even possible, looked worse.

The black and blue of the nastiest ones were offset by disgusting looking greens and yellows. _At least they're healing well_ he thought idly. There weren't many positive things that could be taken from the situation so he had to take anything he could get.

"Hey." Kurt was looking up at him with a smile on his face and he lifted one of his hands up towards him gesturing for him to come closer.

The IV line had been disconnected the night before; the doctors had decided to see how Kurt could manage off the medication so that they could consider releasing him. Something that Kurt was ridiculously grateful for.

Now there was just a small, capped tube hanging from his hand.

It didn't look great but it was better to look at than watching various liquids dripping into his veins.

Blaine gave him an awkward one armed hug, knowing that now, off the constant stream of morphine; Kurt would feel his injuries a lot more.

Apparently Kurt wasn't fussed about that as he wrapped his good arm around Blaine's neck and pulled him in tightly.

Blaine didn't miss the pained look that passed over Kurts face but he appreciated the affection anyway. As long as Kurt was initiating it he would accept it.

Having his boyfriend in his arms felt so good.

So natural.

The warmth of his skin, the soft yet gentle grip of Kurt's fists in his t-shirt, hanging on like they should never be apart.

"Hi..." he whispered into Kurt's ear, sitting back on the bed with one leg tucked under him. Kurt went back to doodling on the scrap of paper in his lap.

Blaine loved that fact that the couple were comfortable just being in each other's presence.

They didn't need random drivel, they didn't have awkward silences, and they never felt out of place with each other.

Normally Blaine would be happy to sit there like this for hours, for the past 2 days he had done just that. He went through both lunch and dinner in silence.

He would alternate between sitting on the edge of the bed and the chair beside Kurt. Occasionally he would nudge Kurt forwards and sit behind him, the two of them lying together in comfortable bliss with their hands entwined.

Unfortunately, as relaxed as they were to be like this, Blaine _knew_ that now wasn't the right time.

"Kurt...?" He waited until his boyfriend looked up at him with a questioning hum. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

"Yeah and I do. I tell you everything." Kurt smiled and looked back down at his doodles.

"You tell me...right." He took a deep breath, preparing for whatever would happen next. This could all go brilliantly or completely ball up. "So if you knew who had done this to you..." Blaine could see Kurt's eyes widen slightly but still concentrating on his paper, "You'd tell me right?"

"Of course, but I don't." _So this is how it's going to be._

"You're lying." He whispered.

"What?" The pen was forgotten, lying on the sheets and Kurt's hand had a small tremor running through it.

"You're...why are you lying to me?" He hated how his voice cracked. But this was his boyfriend. Lying to him.

"Blaine...what? I'm not lying." Even if Blaine hadn't known the truth the panic on Kurt's face wouldn't have fooled anyone.

"I know Kurt."

Silence.

And not the comfortable, relaxed, peaceful kind.

"I heard you...when you had your panic attack, I heard you. You were begging him to stop."

"Yeah well I did beg." This was torture. Blaine could see the panic rising in Kurt, his shoulders were slumping, his eyes downcast.

He didn't want to do this but he was too invested now.

"No Kurt...you were begging _him._ Karofsky. You were begging Karofsky to stop."

That silence was back.

He decided he hated that silence.

He hoped they would never experience it again.

It was a heartbreaking silence.

"I know he did this. Why won't you tell me the truth?" his voice cracked again.

"I was thinking about the bullying. That's all." Finally Blaine couldn't take it anymore. He _knew_ that this shouldn't be how it goes down. He _knew_ he was probably just hurting his boyfriend but he _knew_ that Kurt needed this out in the open.

It would never end of Karofsky got away with this.

"NO KURT!" There was venom in his voice that he hadn't heard in a long time. An anger that he felt all the way to his heart. And to think this was aimed at Kurt, the boy he _loved..._it disgusted him. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.

"Please, stop lying to me." He begged, tears filling his eyes again. "You know it was him, you do. Stop denying it" Nothing could have prepared him for what followed.

Kurt head snapped up, eyes blazing, face twisted into a scowl.

"WHY, BLAINE? WHY SHOULD I STOP? WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO LET ANYONE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? I DON'T EVEN WANT TO REMEMBER IT MYSELF SO WHY SHOULD I TELL ANYONE ELSE?" he paused, watching Blaine's eyes well up and his mouth hang open in shock. He should probably stop, he knew that but now that it was coming out he knew he had to finish.

"FINE... IT _WAS _HIM, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR? IT WAS _HIM_ AND HE FOLLOWED US AFTER GLEE CLUB, AND AFTER YOU LEFT HE DRAGGED ME OUT OF THE CAR AND BEAT ME SO HARD THAT I REALLY THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO KILL ME!" Blaine sat, stunned, as Kurt began to choke on the force of his words. Tears streamed down him face and his chest was heaving as he tried – and failed – to calm himself.

Blaine scooted forward on the bed and tentatively put a hand on Kurt's arm, preparing for the rejection. He was shocked when he suddenly found himself with an arm full of his sobbing boyfriend.

Kurt was breathing heavily and Blaine could see a couple of nurses out of the corner of his eye, they were standing hesitantly by the door, not sure what they should do.

He shook his head and gave them a look which he hoped conveyed that he had it covered and was thankful when they seemed to get the message and walked away.

The nurses call button on the remote lit up on the nightstand and Blaine could tell that they were prepared to intervene if it became too much to handle.

He barely caught the whisper in his ear but his heart broke when the words reached him.

"I thought I was going to die."

"I'm sorry baby. Its okay baby, you're okay," He repeated the words over and over into Kurt ear as he rocked the boy gently. He knew that his boyfriend was probably feeling a significant amount of pain but he couldn't let go now.

Kurt needed him to be there.

And he didn't intend to leave.

They stayed like that for a few minutes before the exhaustion from his outburst finally caught up with Kurt and Blaine felt the boy relax against him. He lowered him gently back to the pillows and pulled the sheets up to his shoulders.

For a minute he just sat and watched his boyfriend sleep.

He felt like he had never felt before, he had so much need to protect this boy, more than ever before and he loved him. So so much.

He could resist the urge to hold the sleeping boy.

He settled himself down next to him on the bed, gently laid one of his arms over Kurt's body and rested his head into the back of Kurt's neck.

When the nurses came around later to check on them and found them both asleep together, spooned close and their fingers entwined, none of them had the heart to wake them.

* * *

So yes, quite short but I hope you don't mind.

Okay, review?


	10. Chapter 10

ffffffuuuuu 3 days in a row lots of writing for me. Don't get used to it though, this chapter ends the Blaine and Kurt isolation. I'll be moving on in the next one which means more will happen in them, therefore chapters will be longer.

Chapter 10

* * *

_Shadows._

_Twisting, winding, surrounding him. _

_Pain._

_Shooting straight through him _

_He ran. _

_He felt as if he was underwater._

_Each breath took so much effort that he didn't even think it was worth it anymore. _

_Suddenly he was on the floor; being dragged backwards, hands clawing the floor in panic._

_The shadows drew closer, suffocating him. _

_He couldn't breathe. _

_He was shaking, no...He was being shaken. _

'_Kurt.'_

_What was that?_

_Wait; that was his name._

_Who was calling his name?_

_Just him and the shadows. _

_Were the shadows calling to him?_

'_KURT!' _

_It was louder this time and the shaking was back. _

_He couldn't breathe. _

'_I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dy-'_

Kurt awoke with a Jolt, throwing himself into a seated position, chest heaving as he drew in deep, panicked breaths.

A dream...just a dream- no a nightmare.

A horrible nightmare, one that he had become used to in the last 4 days.

He became aware of a hand on his back, rubbing soothing circles through the thin material of the hospital gown and he closed his eyes, using the gesture to help him to calm.

He was pulled back against a firm warm chest and strong arms wrapped themselves around his torso.

"It's okay baby, I'm here" The words were whispered softly into his ear and he realised that he was being gently rocked like a baby.

No matter how many time he'd been told that in the last few days; Kurt would never grow tired of hearing his boyfriends support.

The mantra was repeated, broken only by the odd tender kiss placed on his temple.

"Blaine." He whispered, lifting the hand that wasn't in a sling out of his boyfriends grip, placing it on the arms around him.

"Yeah, it's me. Open your eyes baby." He felt himself being manoeuvred gently in Blaine's arms until he felt his back resting into soft pillows and let his lids flutter open.

He was met with the sight of Blaine sitting in front of him on the bed, one leg tucked under him and he had Kurt's hand in his softly stroking the skin with his thumb.

A gesture he had felt many times recently, not that he was complaining.

He looked over Blaine's shoulder and noticed that they weren't alone.

Kurt's doctor was stood by the wall with a clip board in his hand and a small smile on his face.

He would never say it out loud but sometimes the affection he saw between couples in the hospital really gave him hope for love. And he'd never seen any couple as adorable as this pair.

"Hi." He said kindly when he realised Kurt was looking directly at him.

"Hello." Kurt's response was hesitant, since every time this man had been in the room over the last few days it had been to tell him that no, he would not be leaving today.

"I have good news and bad news." Blaine turned around on the bed, hand still gripping Kurt's but making it easier to see the man talking.

"Good news is we're letting you go." He smiled as Kurt visibly sighed in relief and his boyfriend leaned over to give him an affectionate peck on the smiling lips. "You're healing well, you've been off the morphine 24 hours and seem to be coping significantly without it so I don't think there's anything more that we can do here that you can't deal with at home."

Kurt side hugged his boyfriend, being careful with his arm and kissed him again.

"Wait..." Blaine turned away from Kurt to look back to the doctor. "Bad news?"

_Damn. Yeah._

"Ah yes, bad news is you'll have to hold off on the singing for a couple of weeks until your ribs are better healed."

With any other person this would be such a silly thing to be reluctant to announce.

For Kurt it was like taking water away from a fish.

"That's okay, right Kurt?" Blaine smiled reassuringly at his boyfriend and poked him gently on the arm which caused Kurt to return the smile at how cute Blaine was. "Right Kurt." He pressed.

Kurt sighed but reluctantly nodded.

After last night he had mentally decided that he should just be grateful he was alive.

A couple of weeks without singing wouldn't be that hard.

Well, at least with Blaine he could complain later.

* * *

2 hours, one thorough check up and an intense wardrobe discussion over the phone with Finn deciding which of his clothes were comfortable yet stylish enough for his discharge, Kurt was ready to leave.

He had flat out refused the sweatpants that his dad offered, there was never an excuse for sweatpants, and he obviously hadn't said it enough.

Maybe he'd burn them.

The nurse had insisted that Kurt be taken out of the hospital in the wheelchair much to Kurt's annoyance. 'I'm not an invalid' he had argued but they had assured him it was simply hospital policy.

He wouldn't admit it but, once he took his first step out of the chair, Kurt was extremely embarrassingly glad that they hadn't let him walk from the ward.

Every step pulled at the stitches in his leg, he had been lucky enough to get away without anything broken since, with the sling on his arm, crutches would have been impossible.

The cut still hurt like hell though and, much to Kurt's dismay, every tug on the wound threw him right back into the attack.

He could still feel the skin ripping apart as he skidded across the tarmac.

Luck had not been on his side when Karofsky had hurled him down on the road, as there had been scattered glass littering the floor which Kurt had fallen directly onto...hence the gaping wound that, the doctor had said, could have been much more serious if Blaine hadn't taken him into the ER.

This attack, as horrible as the ordeal had been, had really brought Blaine and Kurt a lot closer.

The dapper boy had spent every second he could with his boyfriend. Giving comforting gestures, loving whispers in his ear long into the night and just being around him without the need for words.

He wished that the argument the day before hadn't happened how it had but Kurt had to admit that it really helped him to get it all out in the open.

He wasn't prepared to tell his friends or Carol or even his Dad yet but he knew Blaine wouldn't let it end there.

What is it...admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it...

Or was that drugs?

_It could work for bullies I guess. _

As Kurt limped slowly to the car; Blaine came up behind him, wrapping am arm around his waist allowing Kurt to lean against him for support.

His dad came around to help him into the backseat and Kurt thanked him, sinking into the soft blanket that Carol had thought to lay there.

The car ride was silent; Blaine had his fingers entwined with Kurt's the whole time, repeating the soothing motion of running his thumb across the skin.

Kurt wondered how he got so lucky.

* * *

"Okay," Burt said as they entered the house. "So Finn has moved his stuff into the basement and you'll be upstairs since I know how cold it gets in the winter months, don't deny it," He added the last bit when he saw that Kurt was set to protest. "And the doctor said we have to be really careful so that you don't get an infection in that cut on your leg."

Kurt subconsciously lifted his leg off the ground slightly, alleviating the pressure a little.

Blaine felt the weight leaning against him increase and jumped in before Kurt could argue with his father.

"Come on Kurt, you need to sit down." He pulled gently on Kurt's arm, guiding him to the couch.

Kurt tugged his arm out of Blaine's grip.

"I'm fine Blaine, I've been sitting down for 4 days, I'm going to go to my-" He paused sighing in annoyance. "I mean Finns room and check that none of my stuff has been manhandled into oblivion."

He looked over to Finn who was looking pretty put out by the accusation.

"No offense Finn." _Well actually yes, offense meant_, _Finn was worse than a child_. "But I saw what you were like when you moved in...Would you like to tell Blaine how you organised your clothes?"

"Justshovedtheminadraw." Finn mumbled as if he were a 5 year old being told off for drawing on the walls.

"What was that, speak louder Finn."

"I just shoved them in a draw, okay? Geez Kurt I'm not a child."

"You might as well be." Kurt laughed.

"Oh stop pouting Finn, I don't mind as long as you were much more careful with mine."

As he strolled away across the room to the stairs Finn, Burt and Blaine shared a relieved look.

Their Kurt was still in there.

"I'll go help him," Blaine said, heading over to the stairs where Kurt had been going.

When he reached the bedroom he peered in but there was no Kurt.

"Kurt?" He called out. The reply came from down the hall.

"I'm just in the bathroom." The reply was soft and, if Blaine wasn't mistaken, quite tearful.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly, crossing the carpeted floor and leaning close to the door.

"Just...just give me a minute." Kurt couldn't stop the break in his voice.

Blaine knew that the young countertenor was crying. He also knew that, while it made him feel like a terrible boyfriend, Kurt just needed a bit of time to himself.

He mentally agreed to give Kurt 15 minutes to get himself together. After that he would do whatever it took to get into that bathroom.

It turned out that he didn't actually need that long and, 7 or 8 minutes later, while Blaine was sitting on the bed idly picking at the fabric on the bed linen, Kurt shuffled in, shoulders slumped.

Blaine sighed when the boy put his head up to look at him.

Kurt's eyes were puffy and bloodshot and the skin around then was blotchy like Kurt had scrubbed at them to wipe away the tears.

Blaine clucked his tongue sadly and held his arms out to his boyfriend.

"C'mere."

Kurt sniffled and crossed the room in no time, basically throwing himself into Blaine's arms.

Blaine wrapped his arms around the shaking boy and rested his head lovingly on Kurt's soft hair.

"It'll be okay Kurt."

"How can you say that?" He swallowed heavily, choking back more tears.

Blaine didn't get a chance to respond because now, tucked into the crook of Blaine arm, his head pressed into the smaller but stockier boys chest he had found his voice.

"I have to tell them...about him don't I" They both knew it wasn't a question and Blaine just nodded into Kurt's hair, his heart breaking as the body he was holding shuddered.

He sat up further, tugging Kurt gently up with him and placed a finger under his chin, tilting his head to look up at him.

Leaning in, he placed his lips against Kurt's gently, the kiss totally innocent. When he pulled away however he discovered that wasn't enough for Kurt.

The tearful boy put his good hand behind Blaine's head, effectively pulling him down for another kiss.

This one was sloppier, more passionate. Kurt ran his tongue across Blaine bottom lip making Blaine gasp lightly, and took the opportunity to slip his tongue in.

They moved together, tongues exploring each other's mouths and Blaine wrapped his hands around Kurt's back pulling him as flush against his chest as he could with the sling in the way.

Blaine was the first to break for air, leaning back breathing heavily, he gazed straight into Kurt's still blotchy eyes.

"You're so strong Kurt. So strong." He leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the top of his boyfriends head as the boy snuggled closer his body now stopping Blaine from moving anywhere.

He didn't mind though.

This right here was where he belonged.

* * *

I feel the need to say, once again, this isn't the end. I'm too used to short stories, all my chapters end up looking like the end.

lalalalala oh well.

Review if you can x


	11. Chapter 11

I am so _so_ sorry it's so late; this was really hard to write for some reason.

Other than that just read the A/N at the end.

Chapter 11.

* * *

_Knock knock._

"Kurt?"

Nothing.

_Knock knock knock._

"Kurt."

Nothing.

_Knock knock knock BANG!_

"_KURT!"_

"URGH! WHAT?" The door swung open revealing an irate Kurt; his hair pulled back by a white flannel band and a gloopy blob of moisturiser on his cheek.

Blaine smiled at the normality in that moment but cringed as he caught sight of the wound on his boyfriends face.

He had taken off the gauze so that he could wash his face and Blaine's eyes focused on the ugly stitches that stood out against Kurt's porcelain skin and the crusted scabbed wound underneath them.

The doctor had said that he had never seen anyone with such a fast healing time.

It had been a week since the attack and the majority of Kurt's bruises had already entered the final stage in healing; meaning that most of his body had turned a sickening green/yellow.

Unfortunately the ones that were hanging around longer, discolouring his skin in such a disgusting fashion that it made Blaine feel sick to his stomach, were the most obvious.

His collarbone was a mass of mottled blues and blacks, leading down to his chest, disappearing past the frayed edge of Kurt's t-shirt.

"We have to go to school soon." He said with a slight concerned look on his face.

"Yeah, I know." Kurt shrugged and leaned against the door frame, arms folded.

He stared at Blaine who was moving his mouth like he wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.

Kurt tilted his head towards his boyfriend and raised his eyebrows as an invitation for Blaine to continue.

"So?" He prompted after a few seconds passed in awkward silence.

Blaine sighed.

Even after the other night; a night spent cuddling on the bed talking about how Kurt would tell his Dad the truth about Karofsky, the boy was still refusing to come clean.

Kurt had continued to fob his dad off with lies about how he hadn't seen the guys face or that he had been too dizzy from the head wound to focus on any voice he'd heard.

"Kurt..."

"What Blaine? As you just pointed out we have to go to school soon so, if you want me to be ready in time them you'd better-"

"Karofsky will be there."

...

"I've given you long enough. I left you to do this in your own time because I thought you would do the right thing eventually."

"But you haven't, and now, in no more than 2 hours, we are going to be at the school, for 6 hours, with the guy who _nearly beat you to death._ I'm done giving you time Kurt. You have to tell someone else."

"You mean tell my dad."

"I _can't _tell him Blaine, he'll go mental. I told you what he was like when he found out about the threat. If he found out that- if he knew the truth then..."

"He's sick, Blaine. I thought I could do it but I can't." Kurt's voice cracked and tears welled up in his eyes as he drew in a shuddering breath.

Blaine sighed and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, drawing him tight against his chest and rubbing his back soothingly as he shuddered with silent sobs.

Kurt's arms gripped him around his back, his fists grasping Blaine's thin t-shirt like he never wanted to let go.

Blaine heard the sound of a door opening near the bottom of the stairs and decided that it was probably best if Kurt's dad didn't see him like this.

He nudged Kurt back through the bathroom door and kicked his leg out awkwardly to shut the door behind them.

He gently pushed Kurt down to sit on the closed toilet seat and crouched down to his knees in front of the crying boy.

"Hey- Kurt, come on, look at me." Blaine's eyes flickered over Kurt's face, trying to make eye contact before he gave up and put his hand under Kurt's chin, lifting his head.

Kurt blinked a few times, shifting his teary eyes back and forth around the room.

After a few seconds he gave up and sighed; locking his gaze with Blaine's.

"Okay, I just want you to listen to me. Will you do that?" A small nod. "Good."

He took Kurt's hands in his and pulled himself closer so that their faces were almost touching.

"I really care about you, your dad really cares about you, and all of your friends really care- about- you. If you go to school today and something happens because you didn't tell anyone, _besides me_, how do you think all those people will feel? You could have died, Kurt. If you hadn't been by my house..." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply trying to hold back tears, "I can't let anything like this happen again. I can't lose you because you feel like you have to protect everyone around you before yourself."

He pulled away and took Kurt's face in his hands, gently cupping his cheeks.

"Your dad is a big boy Kurt, he can handle himself. You need to take care...of you."

"I want to see if I can do this." Kurt whispered and shook his head in Blaine's grip to stop the protest. "If I can avoid telling my dad then I will. End of story Blaine. I love you and I know you're just trying to protect me but I'm a big boy too. So give me this last chance. If I can't handle it then I _promise_ I'll tell him faster than I can get out of a GAP store." He smiled and Blaine chuckled lightly at his boyfriends attempt at humour.

Blaine sat back on his heels and turned his face away from Kurt.

On the one hand he could go over his boyfriends head, tell his dad before he could get out of it and sort this whole thing out. On the other hand, however, he could give Kurt what he wants and he'd just have to stay with him the whole day. _Fuck, why do I have to love him so much?_

"Fine." He said finally. He saw the relief in his boyfriends face and added, "BUT. I will be with you all day, every second; you can't even go to the _bathroom_ without me. If I even see him _look_ at you the wrong way then that's it."

Kurt nodded reluctantly.

No acting today.

He had thought that he would have at least been able to act okay.

It was better than telling his dad at any rate.

Blaine threw his arms around Kurt's back and held him close with all his strength.

He kept the pressure away from his boyfriends collar bone but Kurt still winced in discomfort and Blaine loosened up a bit whispering 'sorry' a few times softly into Kurt ear.

"I love you, Kurt." He said, putting his forehead against the younger boys and placing a small kiss on the end of his nose.

"I love you too." Kurt whispered, his breath ghosting over Blaine's face.

"Now. Let's get this over with."

* * *

They drove in silence; with every glance over to the passenger seat, Blaine could see the mental preparation Kurt was putting himself through written all over his face.

He couldn't help but think that no one should have to endure this much anxiety over simply taking a step onto school grounds and he wondered whether he had made the wrong decision by allowing Kurt to do this.

As they entered the parking lot Blaine saw the colour drain out of Kurt's face, his fingers gripped either side of the car seat.

Blaine turned off the engine and left the car, tucking his keys until his pocket nervously.

He had reached the other side of the car before he realized that the other door hadn't opened yet.

When he peered in through the thick glass he saw that Kurt's eyes were still fixed forward, there was a slight tremor in his body and Blaine could see Kurt repeatedly swallowing as if he were about to throw up.

Kurt was terrified.

He'd been in silence for the whole car ride, he didn't trust his voice enough not to shake and the last thing he needed was for Blaine to just turn the car around and force him to go home.

His mind was racing as he pictured every possible scenario that could arise during the day and as he felt the car slowing he felt sick.

Not just nervous sick, like _I'm going to throw up_ sick.

There was blood roaring in his ears, basically disabling any connection he had with the real world…with Blaine.

"Kurt?" The word was muffled and this confused Kurt. When he turned to the driver's seat to respond he realised that Blaine was no longer there.

A tap on his window drew his attention away and he saw his boyfriend there smiling sadly at him through the glass.

"Baby, you have to get out of the car."

"Yeah…right." He took a swallowed heavily and took a deep breath to steady himself before pushing open the door and placing his feet on the tarmac.

"If you can't do this we can-" a light punch to his arm shopped him.

"BLAINE. For the sake of Gaga please shut up. I'm allowed to be a little nervous okay?"

Blaine nodded sadly as Kurt turned around to get his bag off the back seat.

Swinging their bags onto their shoulders, Blaine took Kurt's slender hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze and then the couple was heading towards the school.

* * *

All in all the day had been going so well.

No slurs, no slushies, not a single locker slam or dumpster dive.

They hadn't even seen Karofsky, although Azimio had passed by them in the hallways after lunch, but even he had simply averted his eyes and sped up his pace.

Mercedes and Tina had both had classes with the couple but had been the only ones. Kurt and Blaine had been grateful for this because, as much as they loved their friends, being mobbed on his first day back after being brutally attacked wouldn't be very helpful.

So when something eventually _did_ happen, the couple was quite unprepared.

They had been standing by Kurt's locker after the last class of the day when something brushed against the countertenors shoulder.

Blaine and Kurt both whipped their heads round and saw Karofsky walking off down the hallway face turned to Kurt; he had one of his hands in a fist, digging it into the open palm of his other. A gesture that was such an obvious threat that Blaine wanted to cry with frustration.

Blaine curled his hands into fists and was about to storm off after the jock when a pressure on his arm made him stop.

Kurt's skin had turned a frightening pale, his hand curled around Blaine's arm so tightly that his knuckles were white.

His eyes were wide as saucers and glistening with tears.

_Damn it._

Blaine grasped Kurt's shoulders and forced him to meet his gaze.

"Kurt…you're okay, he's gone. We can go…" He looked away. "We can go." He repeated with a solemn whisper.

"No…" Kurt shook his head, blinking rapidly to clear the fearful tears. "No, it's okay…really it's okay. I just didn't expect him to be there. It's not like he did anything."

He knew the second he said it that Blaine would protest so Kurt saved himself the hassle by grabbing the music notes out of his locker and stalking away down the hallway.

They were a few minutes early when they reached the choir room for glee club and only Brittany, Rachel, Santana, Mike and Artie were in there when they swung the door open.

Blaine hoped to be able to sit Kurt down and talk him down from the fear that he _knew _he was drowning in, even if he was too brave to admit it.

No such luck

"KURT!" The frightened boy barely had a chance to think before he was tackled by a warm body.

His arm was ripped from Blaine's grip as he was thrown backwards.

Kurt was still coming down from the subtle threat he had received and suddenly he couldn't breathe; for the first time in days he was taken right back to the attack.

He knew that whoever had just jumped on him hadn't meant any harm but he couldn't help the memories that followed.

His back hit the wall.

And he lost it.

He vaguely registered the warm body being tugged away from him but he couldn't focus on anything further than the images in front of his eyes or the dizzy sensation from breathing too fast.

His breathing was coming out in short, shallow gasps and black spots danced in front of his eyes.

There were various muffled voices near his ear and trying to distinguish between them was making Kurt feel even dizzier.

"...stand back..."

"...I didn't mean..."

"...Just get out..."

"...let me..."

"...better for him if..."

"...come on..."

"...Kurt...just me...just us baby...calm down..."

Then there was banging and unintelligible yelling.

But Kurt was gone, feeling the tarmac beneath his hands, drawing blood through the scrapes and wounds.

Karofskys face flashed before his eyes.

He didn't want to breathe.

The second Blaine had seen Brittany hurtling towards Kurt he knew they were in for trouble.

He swore as the overly excited Blond threw herself at the pair, tearing Kurt from Blaine's grip as she squealed his name.

To Blaine's horror, Kurt's eyes immediately unfocused, his face paled and his breathing hitched.

Blaine immediately tugged Brittany off his boyfriend, the girl staggered back and was caught by Santana, who looked like she was caught between wanting to mess the hobbit up for being too rough with her girl and wanting to wrap her arms around the frightened boy on the floor.

Kurt shook, his body writhing and hands pushing against the floor as he scrambled backwards, it looked like he was attempting to push himself _into_ the wooden door frame.

"You all need to stand back." Blaine hissed to the others who had crossed the room to see what was happening.

"I didn't mean to upset him." Brittany had tears in her eyes, she wasn't sure what she had done but she wasn't stupid enough to miss the fact that something was wrong with Kurt.

"I know Britt, but now I Just need you to get out"

"Please let me do something." She begged.

"Really, it'll be better for him if you just step back." Blaine took one hand away from Kurt and grasped her hand tightly; reassuring her that Kurt would be okay, he just needed some time.

"Come on Britt babe." Santana soothed, wrapping her arms around the crying blond.

They, along with the others hesitantly stepped away, instead choosing to take a seat by the band area, keeping a close eye on the couple sitting on the floor.

Blaine had drawn Kurt against his chest and was whispering calming words into the panicking boys' ear.

"Kurt it's just me, it's just us baby. You have to calm down, come on I know you can."

Kurt struggled and the glazed look in his eyes reminded Blaine harshly of the panic attack Kurt had experienced in the hospital.

_He'd needed sedation then..._

"Karofsky...no..." the voice was slight but it frightened Blaine because now he knew that Kurt wasn't in the room with them.

He was on the tarmac, being pummelled into the cold ground by the Jock who had made his life hell.

Taking up a soothing rocking motion with the boy in his arms Blaine prayed that something or someone would come in a save the day.

Nope.

"Karofsky?" _shit._

Blaine turned his face up to the other door which the guys had entered though just in time to hear the name being whispered from Kurt's lips; a pleading look in his eyes.

He knew they'd figured it out but with Kurt the way he was right now this drama wouldn't help.

"He did this." Finn whispered at the same time as Puck nearly shouted "I should have known."

They both turned to the door, the others crossing the room to join them.

"Where are you going?" Blaine hissed and pulled away from Kurt for a second but was pulled back by the sound of a whimper emitting from the scared boy.

He went back to shushing Kurt soothingly and rubbing his back with one hand.

"Where do you think?" Puck asked in a violently dangerous voice that made everyone subconsciously take a step away from the mohawked boy.

"We're gonna find Karofsky."

* * *

O.o shits going down ;)

and yes Santatna called Brittany 'her girl' Brittana is on...

I started thinking that maybe I was writing too much angst into this but then I thought what the heck! I love Kurt angst and therefore...

Let there be pain for our lovely countertenor.

If you could leave me a review that would be great because I'm getting unsure about this fic and I'm really interested to find out what _you_ _guys_ are actually thinking about it.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

* * *

"KAROFSKY!" The jock barely had a chance to register the voice before a fist slammed into the side of his face.

Normally a hit like that wouldn't have thrown Dave, since his hockey and football training had taught him to be solid in his footing.

This punch, however, had been so sudden and unexpected that he fell against the lockers. The resulting crash echoed all the way down the hall and was repeated again, when Puck grabbed the collar of the dazed boy's letterman jacket and pushed his hard against the metal with an arm across his throat.

"YOU ASSHOLE! I know it was you who beat up our boy Kurt." He growled, pushing Dave harshly into the lockers again.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The laugh that he emitted enraged Puck.

The others, led by Finn, came around the corner just as Puck brought his knee up roughly, straight into Karofskys crotch sending the Jock to the floor gasping in pain and writhing with his hands over himself.

"PUCK!" Finn yelled as he approached, hands tugging at the back of Pucks jacket.

"Get off me Finn!"

"Beating him up won't make anything better, Puck." Mike shouted from his position by Tina. He, like the rest, was trying to hold himself back from jumping onto the boy now writhing in pain on the floor.

They all knew, however, that in this situation they should leave it for the police.

Puck couldn't afford to be sent back to Juvi and, with Regionals not that far away, anyone being suspended or expelled would ruin everything.

"It makes ME feel better!"

"_Fuck._ Stop it Puck." Sam had run in, having caught up with Quinn on the way round, and was now gripping Pucks arm tightly. He knew that, if Puck decided to go apeshit again, then he was the one most able to hold him back.

He still didn't want that to happen though.

Finn looked way too close to lunging at Karofskys huddled form. Sam saw Rachel out of the corner of his eye; she had taken Finns arm in her slender hand and was attempting to sooth his anger.

Karofsky just laid there, his back pressed against the locker and hands still grasping his crotch as he groaned in pain.

"Puck, what are you doing?" The small voice was barely heard in the corridor but when the group turned around to find the source they saw Kurt and Blaine walking towards them.

Blaine had an arm around Kurt's waist, holding the taller boy tucked against his side.

The countertenors skin was still frighteningly pale but he seemed a lot calmer than he had been when the group had left them alone.

"PUCKERMAN!" The voice was murderous and a shiver of fear ran through every body in the hall way, even the tough guys like Puck. They shipped their heads back around to look past Dave.

As Coach Sylvester appeared around the corner the group realized how bad it must have looked.

13 members of the glee club all towering angrily over a winded Dave Karofsky. Rachel had her slender fingers wrapped around Finns arm, her strength not enough to hold him back in itself but, with the possibility of hurting her by pulling away, Finn wasn't trying to fight her.

Sam had Pucks arms held behind his back, his thick wrists tight in his grip. The mohawked boy was struggling fiercely as he attempted to jump on Karofsky and beat his skull into the ground.

"WHAT THE _HELL_ IS GOING ON?" Sue screamed, stalking over to the group and glaring in a way that was completely unique and completely terrifying.

She looked from the jock on the ground – who by now had managed to struggle into a seated position and was breathing harshly, one fist opening and closing against the ground as it he was trying to grip the tiling - to the guys, plus Santana, who were all either holding someone back or being held back.

Out of the corner of her eye she registered the girls, huddled in a tight group around Kurt and Blaine.

Kurt was trying to break through the cluster to get to the conflict but kept being pulled back in by his boyfriend.

"It was him, he did that." Finn growled, gesturing towards Kurt as Puck made to lunge forward again.

The cheer coach edged towards Kurt, whose eyes had gone wide and a blush was rising on his cheeks as he tried to hide away.

"Is this true, Porcelain?" For some reason, the nickname made Kurt feel slightly more secure.

He looked up, meeting Sue's eyes, and nodded firmly but subtly before turning back to Blaine, who wrapped his arms around the boy who now had tears spilling over his cheeks.

Blaine rubbed the boys back as all the emotion from the last week spilled out. After all this fighting and worrying to keep the truth in, it was out, and he could finally let go.

Blaine whispered soothing words in between placing light kisses on Kurt's face.

Sue immediately took control of the situation at that point, stalking past the boys, pushing Puck backwards and stood by Dave, towering over his huddled form.

"Karofsky, up."

The jock, who at this point knew he had lost, stood up without protest, a wince passing over his features.

"Now, go to the principal's office and don't even think about trying to get out of this." Karofsky glanced back at Kurt for a second, a strange look on his face. It was kind of a mix of anger, sadness and...

Regret?

As quickly as he had glanced over he was again facing away from everyone, starting to retreat down the hallway, a slight limp present in his steps.

"Porcelain, you're going to need to come too." She spoke more softly to the teen and looked at him with a sad smile that no one had ever seen grace the stoic woman's face.

Kurt gripped Blaine tightly, letting him know silently that he wanted the dapper boy to accompany him.

Blaine, of course, grasped Kurt's hand securely and led him forward, away from the cooing girls and past the guys who had stopped struggling as soon as Sue had taken charge.

The cheer coach turned towards Karofsky and put two hands on his back; shoving him harshly.

"Move your fat ass Jockstrap."

"Okay, okay...I'm going. Geez" He picked up his pace, a slight limp in his step.

"DONT GET SMART WITH ME DOUGHBOY" Sue screamed, widening her strides and disappearing round the corner.

Seconds later the sound of a body rebounding off metal rang loudly in the tense silence and a smile passed over the faces of everyone left behind in the hallway.

Everyone watched with a sad, nervous gaze as the boys also disappeared after Sue, everything was reaching a climax and they didn't have a clue how this was going to end.

* * *

The wait was agonising.

Karofsky had been in with Sue and Figgins for the past half hour.

Blaine had insisted that they get Dave's story first so that he could give Kurt a chance to prepare.

The second they had arrived at the office, Kurt had lost all of his colour again and was leaning heavily on Blaine as he attempted not to freak out.

This was all happening a _lot_ faster than he had expected and the Kurt wasn't really sure that he could keep up.

Through the glass he could see Sue leaning down over Karofsky, who had slid down in his seat so far that only his head was visible over the backrest. She wasn't yelling but the two boys could guess that there was a hiss in her tone, whatever she was saying.

Figgins' expression did nothing to give away the conversation as he appeared more flustered by this whole thing than anything else.

To be fair to the man he had just been bombarded by a screaming cheer coach shoving a well known bully into the office while the two gay kids hung back behind the office door.

Blaine simply pulled Kurt down onto his shoulder and ran his fingers through the soft hair.

Somehow Kurt could never bring himself to be angry with Blaine for touching his perfectly sculpted locks. The gesture was way too soothing and loving for that.

"How are you doing?" Blaine asked softly.

"I don't know, Blaine." Kurt shrugged subtly against the stockier boy's chest. "Honestly I don't. I didn't expect it to come out like this."

"It's for the best, you know that right?" Blaine nudged the shoulder that he had his arms around in a supportive motion.

A small nod was all he received and they both lapsed back into silence.

Not much more time passed after that before Sue was heading towards where they were sat and the couple steeled themselves for what would come next.

They were not prepared however for a couple of cops appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, giving Kurt a passing glance as they entered the office.

Sue swung the door shut and took a seat on the bench next to Kurt.

"He confessed." She said firmly but with a whispering undertone.

Both boys whipped their heads around, the couple locked eyes and the shock was evident in both of their faces.

_Well that was unexpected._

"I have no idea why but, as you can see, the police will deal with him now." They looked over to where Karofsky was being handcuffed roughly; he wasn't even attempting to fight back.

Kurt had never seen anyone look so defeated before.

One of the cops exchanged words with Figgins as they watched Dave being brought through the office door.

They didn't stop as they passed the couple, Blaine increased his grip on Kurt just in case, but Kurt could have sworn that he heard _sorry_ float around in the heavy air.

The other cop followed shortly after and Sue patted him on the knee as the hallways emptied again.

"I'm going to call your dad, Kurt."

Kurt nodded.

He could have called his Dad himself really, but he didn't trust his voice at that moment.

Time passed extremely quickly after that and soon they he was being nudged gently through the front door of his house. Blaine had both their bags over his shoulders and deposited them on the couch as they passed.

There were words exchanged between Burt and Blaine but Kurt wasn't really registering anything.

He had heard 'going to Juvi' in the car and couldn't believe that the whole ordeal had come to a head and been almost resolved in less than a couple of hours.

It was like...things don't happen like that. Only in movies or TV shows that only have 20 minute slots. Not in reality.

But it really was almost over... already.

Blaine led Kurt upstairs into his room and sat him on the bed.

The shorter boy kicked off his shoes and shucked his jacket, kneeling on the ground to untie Kurt's boots and pulled the limp boys arms out of his own soft sweater.

He walked quickly to the other side of the bed and lay down; reaching forward to take Kurt's shoulder in his grip and gently tugged him down to lay beside him.

No words were necessary, both just needing the touch of the other.

An arm was laid gently across Kurt's waist and the taller boy tucked his back into Blaine's chest.

They fit perfectly.

Like a puzzle that had waited so long in the back of a closet, waited so long for that missing piece.

And they had found it in each other.

They fell asleep like that and, when Burt came up half an hour later to check on them, he stood at the door for a moment, smiling with pride and love and any other content emotion he could muster.

Switching the light off, he pulled the door closed with a soft click and tiptoed back downstairs.

This family could face anything and always come out the other side.

* * *

So technically that's the end.

Yep.

One little cute epilogue coming up (including all the glee kids) then it's done.

I'll do a more detailed A/N at the end of the next one.

Please review


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